Ruins
by thehistorygeek
Summary: Chelsea was always a sweet, happy-go-lucky person. Vaugh was cold, cruel, and just plain rude. They meet, and their wholes worlds come crumbling down.
1. The Beginning

**I had a hard time picking a name for this story. :( But I picked one, and I like it! I hope you guys love this story. It's probably going to be one of the best I've written (hopefully)! This is most likely the longest chapter I've EVER written. Hurray!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

**Time for the story!**

The Beginning

I leaned against the rail of the ferry and breathed in the ocean air. I always loved the ocean. As a child, I loved going to my grandparent's cottage along the shore of the ocean.

I leaned further across the rail, and felt the ocean spray against my face. Someone walked up behind me, and leaned on the rail beside me. I looked over and saw a girl about my age. She had pink hair and brown eyes. She had a red headband on, and wore a green shirt. She had blue pants, and an apron that looked like a skirt.

She turned her head and looked at me. "Hello," she said. "I'm Natalie."

"Chelsea," I said, smiling.

Natalie nodded, and looked back at the ocean. A boy then walked up beside Natalie. He had pink hair and brown eyes, just like her. He was wearing big round glasses, a blue shirt, light blue jeans, and a green apron like Natalie's.

He looked at me and smiled. "Hello," he said cheerfully. "I'm Elliot!"

"Hi," I said. "I'm Chelsea."

He smiled again, and looked at the ocean.

The three of us stood there silently. The sun was beginning to sink slowly beneath the horizon.

"Elliot! Natalie!" A raspy voice sounded behind us. We all turned and saw an old man standing a few metres away from us. "Time to go eat!"

"Bye, Chelsea," Natalie said and went to join the old man.

"Bye," Elliot said cheerfully, and ran after Natalie.

I sighed and rested my chin on my hands. I was all alone now. The sailors were probably somewhere else, eating. So were all the other passengers.

I sighed again and began walking to my cabin. I unlocked the door and fell onto the bed. I closed my eyes, and soon I was asleep.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, the ship was rocking violently. It was pitch black, and I reached for the lamp. When I tried to turn it on, it wouldn't work. I cursed under my breath, and clambered out of bed.

I peered out of the porthole, and saw that the sky was pitch black and covered with dark grey clouds. The ship rocked again, and I grasped the ledge of the porthole for support.

Lightning crashed in the sky, and the ship rocked violently. I fell to the floor, nearly hitting my head on the corner of the bedside table. I tried getting up, but the ship rocked violently again, sending me back onto the floor.

Lightning crashed again overhead, and huge rolls of thunder banged. I didn't know what to do. I was terrified. I tried getting up again, but I just ended up back on the floor.

Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky. This time, I was convinced it had struck the boat. There was a loud crash, and then the sound of splitting wood.

We were sinking.

The floor began to tip, and soon I was nearly standing on the wall. I tried running out of my cabin as fast as I could. I yanked open the door and seawater flooded in. I slid down the hall, and burst through the door onto the deck. It was pelting rain, and lightning was still crashing in the sky.

I slid down the deck, and found myself standing on the rail. The boat had split in two. I began trying to climb up the deck, trying to get away from the freezing cold water.

The door to the hallway swung open, and Natalie and Elliot cam sliding down the deck towards me.

"We're sinking!" Elliot cried.

"No!" Natalie said sarcastically. "We're flying!"

The side of the boat we were on tipped a bit more, and soon enough it was floating vertically in the water. It slowly began sinking into the ocean.

Natalie screamed, and Elliot began hyperventilating. I'm not even kidding. He was breathing, short, quick breaths.

I looked around frantically, and saw a piece of wood floating in the water.

"Follow me!" I screamed above the rain and lightning.

I jumped into the water, and began swimming to the board. The waves kept sweeping me farther and farther away from the board. I was certain I had just doomed myself.

After minutes of thrashing in the ocean, I reached the board. Natalie and Elliot reached it a few seconds later. We were all gasping and clinging to the board for dear life.

We floated aimlessly for hours. The storm kept raging, sweeping us to who knows where. We had tried numerous times to sit on the board, but we always ended up back in the water. Elliot just clung to the board, his face pure white. Natalie and I hung on the board, frozen with fear.

The storm eventually calmed, and disappeared. It looked as if there had never been one. Elliot still looked terrified.

"What are we going to do?" he cried. "Wander around the ocean until we DIE? I don't wanna die!"

Natalie glared at him. "We're not gonna die, numbskull!" she screamed. "We're going to live!"

"How?" Elliot wailed. "Do you see an island around here somewhere? A boat?"

"Yes," Natalie said, and pointed to the horizon.

Elliot squinted, and tried to look for what she was pointing to.

"Come on!" Natalie said. "You have those big glasses! Can't you see with them?"

Elliot shot Natalie and evil look, and grabbed the glasses off his face. He then proceeded to try and clean them. After putting them back on, he looked at the horizon again.

"Oh," he said a few seconds later. "I see it now!"

Natalie sighed, and hit her head again the board.

I began kicking madly, trying to get us to the island faster. Natalie and Elliot watched me, and then started kicking.

About half-an-hour later, we washed up on the beach.

"Land!" Elliot screamed, and fell to his knees.

Natalie sighed, and leaned against a huge, seaweed covered boulder. I collapsed on the ground, and kept taking huge, long breaths.

"I can't believe we made it!" Elliot cried, and grabbed fistfuls of sand.

Natalie fell to the ground, leaning against the boulder. I got up and walked over to her. She looked sad and panicky.

"What do you think happened to Mom and Grandpa?" she asked Elliot.

Elliot bit his lip, and looked just as panicky as Natalie. "I don't know," he said nervously. "Do you think they made it?"

"I hope so," Natalie whispered.

I looked from one to the other. "I'm sure they made it," I said, trying to reassure them. I got up and tried to wipe the sand off my soaking wet clothes.

"Why don't we go explore this island?" I asked them.

They both sighed, but got up.

"Maybe Mom and Grandpa washed up on this island," Elliot said hopefully.

"What are the chances of that?" Natalie scoffed.

We walked across the warm sand, and onto the cold stone path.

**Did you like it? If you did, review! If you didn't, get the heck out of here. I'm not updating until I get at least 5 reviews! (Sorry, Xealvi, I'm using your technique from Impossible Love. I just think it works.) Oh, and I'll be checking how many people read this. I know you can type, so review! PLEASE... I have cookies!**


	2. The Houses

**Hurray! I got my five reviews! *gives reviewers cookies* There are 13 of you who didn't review. *glares at evilly* Come on! I won't bite! Just no flames, please.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

The Houses

We all froze when we looked around us. There were at least five run-down, grey houses. There were rotting board covering the place where there should be a door. Holes appeared on the roofs, and the walls were crumbling.

"Oh my Goddess," Natalie whispered. "I wonder what happened here!"

I separated away from them and wandered around a bit. I peered through the boards of the houses, and saw rotting, torn furniture. There were signs in front of the houses, but the writing was too faded to read.

Suddenly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to face it and saw a ginormous boulder towering above me.

"Whoa," I gasped, and stumbled backwards. That had to be the biggest boulder I'd ever seen in my life. Natalie and Elliot ran over to me, and were just as awed about the huge rock.

"That," Elliot pointed to the rock. "Has got to be the biggest rock I have EVER seen."

"It's not a rock," Natalie said matter-of-factly. "It's a boulder."

Well, the two of them started fighting over whether it was a boulder or a rock.

"Does it really matter!" I screamed, getting irritated by their bickering.

Elliot and Natalie both shot an evil look, and turned their backs on each other.

I turned to walk the opposite way, but saw a broken bridge. It looked like there was a forest behind it. I sighed, and walked down the path. I saw another path, and walked up that.

When I came to the end of the path, I saw a huge, barren field covered in sticks, rocks, and weeds. There was a yellow-roofed stable to one side, and a red-roofed house to the other. It looked pretty stable, so I walked over to it.

There was an actual door, and a glass window. The walls looked secure, and the roof didn't have a single hole in it. I peered inside, expecting to find old furniture and cobwebs. Instead, I saw relatively new furniture, clean walls that were cobweb free, and…

Two living, breathing people.

* * *

I walked backwards a few feet, then turned and ran, screaming, "Natalie! Elliot!" the whole way.

They were both standing back to back, but when they heard me screaming, they turned to face me. "What is it?" Elliot asked, a concerned look on his face.

"I was going to say that," Natalie said angrily, and stomped on her brother's foot.

Elliot screamed in pain, and grabbed his foot.

"Will you two stop fighting!" I cried. "There are two people, alive, up that hill!" I pointed to where I had come from.

"No way!" Natalie said, forgetting her anger.

I nodded, and grabbed both of their wrists. "I'll show you!" I said, and pulled them along the path.

We walked silently towards the house, and peered through the window.

Natalie's eyes grew wide, and Elliot's mouth dropped open.

Suddenly, Natalie screamed and ran through the door. Elliot followed behind her quickly, smiling widely.

I watched them through the window. Natalie wrapped her arms around the woman, and Elliot stood there talking to the old man excitedly.

"I can't believe you're here!" Elliot said.

The old man was smiling widely. "Neither can I," he said. "That shipwreck nearly killed me!"

The woman and Natalie walked over to them. The woman hugged Elliot tightly, and kissed him on the cheek. Their mother, I presumed.

Watching them made me lonely. I just sat there, looking through the window. I think the woman saw me, because she pointed to the window and began talking to Natalie. I couldn't hear what she was saying, because she was nearly whispering.

Natalie laughed. "That's Chelsea," she said. "She was with us when the ship crashed."

The woman looked somewhat relieve. Natalie walked over to the door, and leaned out. "Chelsea, do you want to come in?" she asked.

"Sure," I said quietly, and followed her inside.

"Mom, Grandpa, this is Chelsea." She said when we entered. "Chelsea, this is my mother, Felicia, and my grandfather, Taro."

Taro hobbled over to me and shook my hand. "I heard you saved my grandkids' lives." He said.

"I didn't really save them," I said shyly.

"Oh, pish-posh!" Taro said. "Elliot told me you said for them to climb onto that piece of wood. Therefore, you saved them!"

I was having trouble following what he was saying. His voice was raspy, and his sentences didn't exactly make sense in my mind.

"Ok?" I said, confused.

Taro smiled, and walked back to Felicia.

"Would you like something to drink?" Felicia asked me.

Only then did I realize how thirsty I was. My throat was dry from all the salt water, and it was very hot on the island.

I nodded, suddenly being unable to speak. I felt like I was choking. I honestly didn't know where that came from. Felicia hurriedly got me some water from Goddess knows where, and handed it to me.

I drank the whole thing, and felt much better. I sighed with relief.

"Wow, you were thirsty!" Taro exclaimed. "Are you two thirsty?" he looked at his grandchildren.

They nodded, and seemed unable to speak as well. It seemed we weren't feeling things until someone else pointed them out.

Felicia got them both a glass of water, and they drank it as fast as I did.

"So what do we do now?" Natalie asked. None of us knew the answer.

"We could try and find homes," Felicia suggested.

"Do you think we'll be here long enough for that?" Elliot asked, his voice shaky. "Surely they'll be looking for us."

"Elliot, honey, they probably think we're dead." Felicia said softly. Elliot looked scared and sad at the same time. He quickly looked to the ground, and began twittling his thumbs.

None of us said a word for a minute.

"Well, let's go look for a house!" Taro finally said, clapping his hands.

"Chelsea, why don't you live here?" he asked.

I shot my head up at my name.

"I think this place used to be a ranch," Taro said. "You could be the new rancher!"

"Well, I-I don't know m-much about farming," I stuttered.

"I'll teach you, then!" Taro exclaimed happily. "You know, I used to be quite the rancher back in the day." He held his head high in pride.

I sighed. "O-Ok," I said softly.

"Great!" Taro said, smiling widely. "Now you get some rest. You'll need it!"

He then left with the rest of his family, out the door and down the path, to look for a house, leaving me all alone.

**Ok, I have nothing else to say except to review! Just press that little button below and type your review! It's not that hard. Please!**


	3. Seaweed and Crazy Old Men

**Tsk, tsk, tsk... There have been at least 36 people who have read this, and only 5 of you have reviewed. *shakes head* It's not that hard people. I'm not going to update until I have at least 10 reviews. All you have to do is type. It can be one word. One measly little word. Ok, enough pestering for you to review. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. **

**To the story!**

Seaweed and Crazy Old Men

After I was left alone by Taro and his family, I decided to go to bed. Unfortunately, the only clothes I had were the ones I was wearing. They were still wet and smelled like the ocean.

So, I stripped down to my underwear and gave the clothes a good washing in the small bathroom. I hung them up to dry, and crawled into bed. When I felt the soft, cozy material of the blankets, my eyelids got droopy. I didn't think I was tired, but I guess floating around on a piece of wood would do that to you.

I closed my eyes, and almost immediately fell asleep.

"Chelsea, open up!" A voice screamed behind my door. "We have to get moving otherwise you'll never plant a thing!"

Planting? What were they talking about? I rubbed my eyes sleepily, and suddenly remembered everything that happened. The storm, the shipwreck, the island...

"What time is it?" I muttered, and yawned.

"6:30am." The voice said. I recognized it as Taro's. "I let you sleep in, since it's your first day."

I groaned, and rolled out of the bed. I went to answer the door, before I remembered I was in my underwear. I quickly grabbed my clothes and slipped into them.

They still smelt like salt, and were a bit damp, but I didn't mind. I put on my shoes, and opened the door.

"There you are!" Taro screamed, and grabbed my hand. "We have a lot to do!" He dragged me out of my house, and to the barren field. He handed me a hoe, and a bag of seeds with a picture of a turnip on them. Turnip seeds.

"Now, you first need to clear a space by collecting the sticks, stones and weeds." Taro said. "Then you swing the hoe against the ground, to turn up the soil. After, you reach into the bag of seeds and grab a big fistful. You then sprinkle them all over the hoed ground. Oh, and you'll need this." He grabbed a green watering can off the ground beside him. "Got it?"

I nodded. "Uh, where did you get this stuff?" I asked.

"We found them in some of the houses." He said. "Now get to work!"

He hobbled away, and I set to work. I grabbed all the debris that cluttered the field and set them to the side. After I cleared a big enough space, I hoed the soil and planted the turnip seeds.

I thought I was all done, and when I sat down, I nearly sat on a watering can. I groaned, not wanting to do more work. This was harder than I thought! Reluctantly, I grabbed the can and walked over to the river that ran alongside my farm.

I dipped my hand in and took a little sip, to make sure it was fresh water and not salt. After discovering that it was fresh water, I dipped my watering can in and filled it to the top. Then, I carried it all the way back to my turnips and watered them.

"I am so tired," I gasped, collapsing to the ground. I sat there for a few minutes. Suddenly, my stomach growled. "I wonder if there's any food around here," I muttered and got up.

After wandering around for a while, I found this colourful edible grass that looked like a heart. It wasn't the best tasting thing I'd ever eaten, but it filled me up.

It was late afternoon by the time I returned home. I stood looking at the work I had done. There was only a small patch of seeds, and the rest was sticks, stones, weeds, and dirt. Lots and lots of dirt.

I decided to go to bed, since there was nothing left to do and I had to get up early the next morning.

I gave my clothes another thorough washing, and went to bed.

When I woke up, there was someone knocking on my door _again_.

"Chelsea!" It was Taro. _Again_. "Chelsea! There are more people here! At the beach! Come quickly!"

"I'm coming," I muttered, and got out of bed. I put my clothes on, and noticed that the salty smell was fading. I walked sleepily to the door, and yanked it opened. Taro was standing in front of me, with a huge smile on his face.

"Come on!" he said happily, and ran off.

I followed closely behind him. There were more people? Who would come to this island on their own free will?

As I walked towards the beach, I noticed a small yellow-roofed house. I don't know how I didn't see that yesterday. There was a patch in the roof, and a little onning covering some wooden crates.

I stepped off of the worn stone path and onto the soft, warm sand. Sure enough, there were two people standing talking to Felicia and Taro.

I walked over to them, and the man smiled at me.

"Hello," he said, bowing his head. "I'm Chen, and this is my son Charlie. We wanted to come to an under-populated island to start a shop, and I guess this is as under-populated as they get!"

"Nice to meet you," I said, smiling. There was going to be a shop! Inside, I was doing a small happy dance. I could buy some new clothes, and food! The thought of food sent my mouth watering. I'd hardly eaten anything in the past few days except for grass. "I'm Chelsea."

"Well, we really must be going." Chen said, still smiling. "We need to find a place to set up shop."

The little boy, Charlie, smiled up at me. "Bye, lady!" he said cheerfully, and went to follow his dad.

"Looks like we have a shop now!" Taro said proudly. I was beginning to think he'd named himself leader of this island.

Elliot and Natalie came wandering over to us, holding a jar full of green goop.

"Look what we got!" Natalie said smiling, holding up the jar.

"What is it?" I asked, disgusted.

"Its seaweed, from that big rock over there," Elliot said, and pointed to the rock in the corner of the beach.

I took the jar from Natalie, and unscrewed the top. It smelt like... fish and salt. I held it away from my face and screwed the lid back on. "Where'd you get the jar?" I asked. It seems they were finding a whole bunch of things around here.

"It was in our house," Natalie said. "There's dozens of them!"

Taro snatched the jar away from me, and took the lid off. He smelt it, and then dipped his finger into the seaweed. After taking his finger out, he stuck it in his mouth.

After a few seconds, he spit the seaweed out and put the lid back on.

"You could sell this for at least 180 G." He said. "1080, at the max."

"One problem," I said. "How would we sell it?"

"Chen told me there's going to be a ship coming every week," Felicia said. "You can ship things you find and grow to the city, and I can sell them for some money."

"That's a great idea, Felicia!" Taro said. "My family and I will be in charge of the shipping."

Natalie wasn't too please about that. She had this huge argument with Taro.

"Come on!" she screamed. "Why do we have to do this!"

"Because I said so!" Taro yelled at her.

On and on it went, until Felicia stepped in.

"Stop it, both of you!" she cried. "Now, Natalie you are _going_ to do this!"

Natalie glared at her mother, and then angrily stomped away, muttering under her breath.

**This story may seem a little boring, but it'll get better. I PROMISE. Vaughn still hasn't been introduced... Hopefully he comes in soon! :)**

**As always, review. I need 10 reviews to update! **


	4. Door Knockers

**I got my ten reviews! Hurray! Thank you for reviewing! *gives cookies* Now, I want at least 18 reviews to update! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

**Hurray!**

Door Knockers

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_ What is that? _Bang! Ba_

_ng! Bang!_ Who's knocking on my door AGAIN? _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ Let me guess... Taro.

"Get up, Chelsea!" Yep, it was Taro. "You need to work on your farm!"

I rolled over and buried my face into my pillow. Why is he always doing that? Every single morning, he comes and raps on my door, screaming at me. "What do you want, Taro?" I muttered sleepily.

"For you to get up!" Taro screamed through the door. "You have crops to take care of!"

"What time is it?"

"6am!"

"Why do I have to get up so early?"

"You're a rancher now! You have to get up early to feed your animals, and care for your crops!"

"Yeah, but I don't HAVE any animals!" I screamed angrily.

"You will someday," Taro said. "Now get your lazy ass out of bed!"

Hmm... I never thought Taro would be one to swear.

I reluctantly crawled out of bed, and went to get dressed. I still needed to get new clothes from Chen. These jeans and t-shirt weren't working out very well.

When I pulled open the door, Taro was gone. I sighed, and grabbed my watering can.

I filled it up with water, and went to water my turnips. Half an hour later, I was done.

"See, Taro," I muttered to the air. "I didn't need to get up at 6am!"

* * *

The next few days were the exact same. Taro would wake me up screaming and knocking on my door. I would get out of bed, get dressed, and water my turnips. On the 8th of spring, they were ready to harvest.

I had gotten up on my own at 6am. It seems that time was growing on me... I went outside, and began tugging at one of the turnips. It didn't budge. I pulled harder, and it came flying out of the ground. I fell backwards, and landed on my back.

I groaned and sat up, rubbing my head. I held up the evil turnip, and glared at it.

"You're going first, buddy!" I said to it.

It was the same with all the other turnips. It was around noon when I finally finished. There were sixteen in all. I shipped one-quarter, and saved the rest for food.

I bought four bags of potato seeds, and four bags of turnip seeds. By the time they were planted and watered, it was 7pm, so I decided to go to bed.

* * *

Three days later, I woke up to someone knocking on my door. At first I thought it was Taro, but there was no screaming, so that was impossible.

I got out of bed and quickly got dressed. When I opened the door, I was staring at some huge gorilla. My eyes widened, and I looked up at the face of the person. My eyes grew even wider.

"Hello," the man said.

"Hi," I squeaked out. I was terrified of this ginormous man.

"I'm Gannon," he said. "Chen told me this place needed a carpenter, so I decided to come live 'ere!"

"I-I'm Chelsea," I stuttered, still scared.

"Hello!" a voice peeped from behind Gannon. A little girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes stepped out from behind Gannon.

"This is ma daughter, Eliza." Gannon said, smiling.

I looked from Eliza to Gannon, Gannon to Eliza. I couldn't believe that sweet, adorable little girl was that huge gorilla man's DAUGHTER.

Gannon laughed. He must get that a lot.

Eliza stepped out in front of her father, and flipped her hair pompously. "You're pretty," she stated. "But not as pretty as me! If you need any beauty tips, don't be afraid to ask."

Well that's something you'd never see in the city. A self-absorbed eight-year-old girl with a ginormous father.

Eliza began to skip away, and Gannon followed.

* * *

I woke up to someone knocking on my door again. They were soft, light knocks, but they were loud enough for me to hear. Again, I got dressed quickly and answered the door.

A woman was standing in my doorway this time. She was round with short blonde hair and light blue eyes. Beside her was a girl about my age. She had curly blonde hair that was in a pony-tail, and light blue eyes like the woman. One of the first things I noticed about her was that she was wearing tall white boots, Daisy-Duke shorts, and a short, open shirt.

"Hi!" the woman said happily. "I'm Mirabelle, and this is my daughter, Julia."

The girl smiled, and waved.

"I'm Chelsea," I said.

"We heard that there was a farm on this island," Mirabelle said. "You see, we own an animal shop, and thought you might need some animals!

"So, we decided to open a shop here!" Mirabelle was practically screaming with excitement. Her daughter was smiling just as much as her.

"It was nice to meet you," Julia said, and walked away with Mirabelle.

* * *

I decided to explore the island more. I walked into East Town, and over to the river. There was another broken bridge, and a meadow on the other side. If you followed the river north for a while, you would come to another bridge. This one seemed to lead to a jungle.

I was sitting in front of the broken jungle bridge, when I saw something move. The leaves rustled, and something moved again. It didn't look like an animal. It looked... human. A bush rustled and a head popped out. I couldn't see clearly, but I thought I saw the figure raise a knife.

Well, I jumped up and began running as fast as I could. I didn't even look back; just kept running home.

I burst through my front door and fell against it. I was breathing heavily, and tired from running so fast.

A few seconds later there was a knock on my door. I froze, thinking it was the person from the jungle.

"Chelsea?" I sighed a breath of relief. It was Natalie.

I opened the door, and was greeted by Natalie and Julia. "Yes?" I asked.

"Uh, what happened to you?" Julia asked. "We saw you running like there was no tomorrow to you farm."

"Um... I forgot I had something cooking!" I lied.

Natalie and Julia both peered into my house. "What were you cooking?" Julia asked. "Pickled turnip?"

Natalie stared at Julia. "You don't cook pickled turnip!" she said.

"I was being sarcastic," Julia said matter-of-factly.

"Uh-huh," Natalie said. "Well you're horrible at it!"

Julia glared at Natalie, and turned her head the other way.

"Well... Bye!" I said, and slammed my door in their faces.

**I know, Eliza doesn't normally arrive with Gannon. I just decided to do that for this story. Hehehehe... :)**

**Oh, and Vaughn will be in the next chapter. *sqeauls like crazed fangirl* Wait, I am a crazed fangirl!**

**GO VAUGHN!**

**...**

**AND REVIEWS!**

**...**

**Uh, sorry about that. *clears throat.***


	5. Someone Cranky This Way Comes

***sighs* I decided not to wait for 18 reviews. I was probably never getting there, anyway. *shakes head* You people don't know how to review, do you? 9 people visited this story TODAY, and maybe 1 or 2 reviewed. At least I got 15... So, I need 18 to review AGAIN. Oh, and if this techinique is bothering you for some reason, tell me. I'll gladly stop using it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

**Vaughn's in this chappie... *SQUEALS***

Someone Cranky This Way Comes

"Do I have to do this?" a voice sounded outside my door. It sounded cold and unhappy.

"Yes, you do!" I heard another voice. I recognized it as Mirabelle's.

"Why can't you do it for me?" the cold voice said. I didn't recognize it.

I got up off the chair I was sitting on went to the door.

"I'm not doing that, Vaughn!" Mirabelle said.

"It's not that hard," a different voice said. It was Julia's. "You just have to knock, say hi, tell her who you are, and leave!"

"You know I don't like people," the other voice muttered. This 'Vaughn' didn't seem like a very pleasant person.

I opened the door and saw Mirabelle and Julia arguing with some man. He had silver hair, and wore a black Stetson. There was a white kerchief tied around his neck and he was wearing a black button up shirt. He had a brown vest on, black gloves, a belt with a lasso tied to it, black pants, and cowboy boots.

They all froze and stared at me.

"Hi, Chelsea!" Julia said, smiling. "Um... There's someone we want you to meet!" She stepped aside, and Mirabelle pushed the man forward.

He didn't look to happy to be seeing me, and had a cold, emotionless face.

"... Hi..." He said, looking at me with those icy purple eyes. Wait... purple eyes? Whoa! My mouth fell open, and I stood gaping at him. Purple eyes? I have NEVER seen purple eyes in my life?

He began looking at me with this confused and creeped out face.

"Chelsea?" Julia shot in. "Are you ok?"

I closed my mouth. "Y-Yeah," I stuttered, blushing.

"Uh..." the man said, looking uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," I said, blushing even more.

The man still looked at me with that expression on his face. "Ok...?" he said. "Um, I'm Vaughn."

"Hi," I said, smiling a little. I was really embarrassed. I had just stood there like an idiot with my mouth wide open. "I-I'm Chelsea."

Julia had been watching us intently. She finally decided to take matters into her own hands. "Vaughn's an animal dealer," she said, stepping beside him. She leaned on his shoulder, but he brushed her off with a disgusted look. "He'll be on the island on Wednesday and Thursday. He's in the city the rest of the time..." She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh! And he's my cousin!"

My mouth nearly fell open again. Julia, who was always happy and energetic, was related to this creep who was cold, cruel, and just plain mean?

"Hey!" Julia said, smiling widely. "Why don't you join us for supper, Chelsea?"

Vaughn's face looked even more angry and sad, if that's possible. He obviously DID NOT want me to come over.

"What do you think, Chelsea?" Julia asked, still smiling.

"Uh..." I looked from Julia, to Mirabelle, to Vaughn. "Sure?"

"Hurray!" Julia cried, and grabbed my wrist. She began dragging me to her house, leaving a stunned Mirabelle and angry Vaughn behind on my farm.

For supper, Mirabelle made grilled mushrooms and steamed egg custard.

Julia made Vaughn and I sit beside each other. I think she was trying to play matchmaker.

No one really spoke the whole time. The only sound was people eating. _Munch, munch, munch..._ Out of nowhere, Julia screamed.

Vaughn jumped, and so did I.

"Julia, dear, what's wrong?" Mirabelle asked, concerned.

"It's. Too. Quiet!" Julia screamed, punctuating each word.

Vaughn rolled his eyes, I stared at her, and Mirabelle hit her head against the table.

"Julia, people don't have to be talking 24/7." Mirabelle said.

"They do around me!" Julia said, and got up.

"Wait!" Mirabelle called after her. "I made dessert!"

Julia froze, and spun around. "What type of dessert?" she asked.

"Chocolate covered bananas and baked apples." Mirabelle said. She grabbed two plates, and put them in the middle of the table. One had four chocolate covered bananas, and the other four baked apples.

Julia hurried back to her seat, and grabbed one of each.

"I'm surprised you're so skinny," Vaughn scoffed. "You eat like a pig!"

Julia glared at her cousin, and continued eating.

"Where'd you get the bananas and apples?" I asked Mirabelle.

"Felicia bought me some when she went to the city," Mirabelle said happily.

I nodded, and ate my baked apple.

After supper, Julia dragged me to her room and began asking me dozens of questions.

"So, do you like Vaughn?" she asked first.

"I don't know," I muttered. "He's not exactly the NICEST person I've ever met..."

Julia shrugged. "He's been like that ever since his girlfriend broke up with him..." she mumbled, picking at her nails. "Does this nail look broken to you?" she asked, holding her hand in front of my face.

"Its fine," I said, and pushed her hand away. "When did they break up?"

Julia thought for a minute. "Six... Seven years ago!" she said. "He got all moody and cranky. He used to be so nice!"

"Why did you ask me if I liked him?" I asked.

"I don't know," Julia said. She began tracing the design of her bed covers.

"Julia," I looked at her. "Are you trying to play matchmaker?"

"What?" Julia asked, 'shocked'. "I would never do that!"

"You're lying," I said, getting up to leave.

"You don't know that," Julia said, also getting up.

"Yes I do," I said. "You're horrible at lying!"

* * *

I harvested my potatoes the next day. I was staring to earn a lot of money from farming.

Taro stopped by the next afternoon, and gave me a fishing rod. He thought I could put it to good use.

Decided to go fishing later that evening. I could ship the fish, and cook them to eat. I sat down on the dock by the ocean, and cast my line into the water.

I waited... and waited... and waited. Nothing. Just as I was about to give up, there was a tug. I pulled the line up, and found a 15cm rock trout. I cast my line in again, and got a 20cm rock trout. Threw the line in again... And got another rock trout.

"Damn rock trout!" I shouted, and kicked the dock.

I gave up, and went home with my family of rock trout.

**Elliot: Family of rock trout?**

**Me: Yes, Ell- Wait? Why are you here?**

**Elliot: I was bored.**

**Me: Oooook...**

**Elliot: will this story ever get exciting?**

**Me: *ignores* IDEA! *light bulb appears over head* Elliot! Can you get Vaughn to come here?**

**Elliot: Probably not. The guy'll bit my head off!**

**Me: PLEEEEAAAASSSSSEEEE!**

**Elliot: What's in it for me?**

**Me: ... You get to kiss Julia.**

**Elliot: DEAL! *leaves***

**Me: Haha. He has no idea I was intending that anyway. SUCKER! Remember, I need 18 reviews. That's 3 people! Only 3 of you need to sacrifice 1 minute to write.  
**


	6. Here, Fishy, Fishy

**I was just about to give in without 18 reviews when I got one! WOO-HOO! I've decided to give up on that whole thingy-ma-doo-da; it's not working very well. And I KNOW more people are reading than reviewing. *sighs* Eh, you can't force people to do stuff with words.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. Marvelous does. CURSE YOU MARVELOUS! Nah, not really. Without them, there would be no Harvest Moon *tear***

**ONWARD TO THE CHAPTER (I've had a lot of sugar. DON'T JUDGE ME!) *runs away crying***

Here, Fishy, Fishy

I tried fishing again, but this time near the broken forest bridge. I sat cross-legged on the grass, and threw my line in.

I would wait for a tug, and then pull the line back as fast as I could. I caught mostly worthless crap like sticks, empty tin cans, and boots.

I had just reeled in another can when I heard someone walk up behind me. I turned to see Vaughn standing there, looking down at me with those cold, emotionless eyes of his. I don't even know if this makes sense, but they were like an icy purple.

"What do you want?" I asked coolly. This guy obviously wasn't going to be nice to me, so why should I be nice to him?

"You're doing it wrong," he said, his face not changing one bit.

"Excuse me?" I got up to loo him in the face, but he still towered a good head above me.

"You're not doing it right." He said simply.

"Since when are you the fishing expert?" I scoffed. "I thought you were just a cowboy who didn't give a shit about anyone or anything?"

He didn't say anything, just grabbed my fishing rod and threw the line into the water. It bobbed for a second, and then something tugged on it. He waited, waited, waited...

"What the hell are you waiting for?" I screamed. "The Pumpkin Festival? Pull the line up!"

He looked at me, and gave the line a good, hard tug. The line came flying up, with a huge silver carp on it. The thing had to be a metre long!

Vaughn handed me the fishing rod, and said, "THAT'S how you do it." He walked off, leaving me with a huge 20 pound fish.

The thing kept flopping around. It just wouldn't die! I tried stomping on it, but it kept moving. I tried hitting it against the ground, but I was scared to touch it. I have to admit, I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to touching fish.

It took one last big swing towards the water, and successfully managed to land in it.

_Plop._

A few seconds later...

_Splash!_

I went diving in after the fish. Not on my own free will, mind you. The fish wasn't very strong, but as soon as it landed in the water, it began swimming with all its might. I was surprised, and went right into the water. The current didn't help the situation, either.

I was shocked and scared from the incident, so I held on to the fishing rod. A voice in the back of my head kept screaming, _Let go! Let go! You idiot! Let go of the stupid fishing rod!_ But a louder, stronger voice was screaming, _Hold on to that fishing rod! Hold onto it for dear life and never let go! _

My eyes had been closed tight the whole time. Slowly, I opened them. Water rushed onto my eyes, practically blinding me. All I could see was a fishing rod, and a fish pulling me along...

Towards the ocean.

Suddenly, a hand grasped my shirt and pulled me out of the water. I was still clinging to that stupid fishing rod.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" a harsh voice demanded. "You could have been killed! Is that damn fishing rod so important to you?"

I cleared my eyes and saw Vaughn staring down at me.

"Uh..." I said, unable to speak. The fishing rod was laying on the ground, with the silver carp still flopping around on it.

Vaughn growled at me, and angrily stomped away. Julia came running over to me, with a towel in her hands.

"Ohmigod, Chelsea, are you ok?" she said, and handed me the towel.

"Y-Yeah," I stuttered.

"What happened?" she asked worried.

"I-I fell in," I said.

"How?"

God, did she have to know everything? "Uh... There was a big fish." I said. "It dragged me in."

"Why didn't you let go of the rod?"

"I don't know," I muttered.

"Come on, we better get you home." Julia said, and walked me to my house.

* * *

The next day, a man with curly brown hair and a purple bandana knocked on my door. He was wearing a black shirt, light blue pants, a purple plaid sweater tied around his waist, and indigo rubber boots. There was a little black bird perched on his shoulder, cooing happily.

"Hi," the man said happily. "I'm Denny, and this is my bird, Kuu."

"Hi," I said happily. "I'm Chelsea."

"I heard there were some good quality fish coming from this island, so I decided to come here." Denny said.

"Oh, so you're a fisherman?" I asked.

"Yep!" Denny said happily. "I'm hoping to catch every type of fish known to man someday!"

"Well, good luck with that," I said.

After he left, I laughed and said, "Vaughn's not going to like him; he's VERY happy!"

When I went to visit Julia later that day, I noticed Vaughn wasn't there.

"Where's your cousin, Julia?" I asked.

"In the city," Julia said. She was lying on her bed, with her head leaning off the edge upside-down. "He's only here for two days, remember? Why do you ask?"

"I just realized he wasn't here," I said. "Hey, have you met that new guy, Denny?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah," Julia said, flipping right side-up. "He's, like, really happy."

"Vaughn probably won't like him," I said.

"Why are you so interested in my cousin?" Julia asked.

"I'm not!" I screamed, and hit her with a pillow.

Ok, well maybe I lied a TEENSY little bit. Sure, he's cold and mean, but the guy saved my life.

Ohhhhhhh, boy. He saved my life, and I didn't even thank him. I can't ask for his number, because then Julia will definitely think I like him. That means I have to wait until next week.

I groaned, and leaned back in the chair I was sitting on.

"What's wrong with you?" Julia asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"N-Nothing," I stuttered. "I'm just tired..."

_Liar!_ A small voice squeaked in the back of my head.

_Shut up!_ I snapped back at it.

_I will not shut up!_ The voice said. _I am a_

_SHUT UP! _A louder voice boomed.

Ok, I was going crazy.

**Julia: ...**

**Me: JULIA! *hugs***

**Julia: HELP! I'M BEING STRANGELLED BY A MANIAC! **

**Me: *let's go* Uh... Sorry 'bout that. WHERE'S YOUR COUSIN! *tears up***

**Julia: Damn... What is with everyone being so obsessed over him?**

**Me: He's hot!**

**Julia: O_O Um... He couldn't make it.**

**Me: Elliot chickened out didn't he?**

**Julia: Yep.**

**Me: Well... Ok! Who's coming next? Tell me, tell, tell me, TELL ME!**

**Julia: Um... How's about Pierre?**

**Me: He's not in the story yet. That would make no sense!**

**Julia: Taro?**

**Me: *shudders* That's be scary...**

**Julia: How about DENNY!**

**Me: ... *sigh* ... It doesn't matter. Just get someone here!**

**Julia: okey-dokey! * walks off***

**Me: *hisses* ! *slithers away like snake***

**I've had sugar. My brain is on hyper mode, so I'm thinking very weird and random thoughts.**


	7. Burns, Pop Stars, and A Lot of Screaming

**Yay for more chapters! A message from lollipopdiego got me writing! YAY! *claps!* I couldn't really think of a good title, so I came up with this one :P. This chapter gets kind of crazy at the end. I've been eating sugar! (again)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

**Hurray for long titled chapters! **

Burns, Pop Stars, and Lots of Screaming

"Damn it!" I screamed as I removed yet another failed cooking attempt from my stove. "Why won't you cook anything!" I banged my fist against the hot stove. "Owwwww!" I yanked it away, tears in my eyes.

Turning on the tap, I stuck my hand under the cold water. When I took it out, I carefully wrapped it in cloth.

"Stupid stove..." I muttered, sitting down to eat my pickled turnip. It was the only thing I managed to make without a stove!

"What happened to your hand, Chelsea?" Julia gasped when she saw me the next day.

"Uh..." Quick! Think of a lie...

_Lying isn't the right thing to do, _The little voice screeched in the back of my head.

_Well, I don't want to tell her I hit my hot stove! _I screamed back.

_..._

_That's what I thought!_

"So, what happened?" Julia's voice snapped me back into reality.

"Um..." Think, Chelsea, think! "I was cooking... and... I accidently burned my hand on the stove."

"Are you ok?" Julia asked me nervously.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I told her.

"Are you sure?" Julia asked. "We could go see Dr. Trent in Mineral Town."

"Julia," I sighed. "It's not that bad. Just a little burn."

"Ok," Julia said, still sounding nervous. "Whatever you say..."

* * *

"Hello!" I opened my door the next morning and was greeted by a girl about my age with long, straight blonde hair and deep brown eyes. There was a turquoise headband in her hair, and she was wearing a matching dress. "I'm Lanna!"

"Hi," I smiled. "I'm Chelsea."

"I was at the market the other day, and bought a fish that was shipped from here," Lanna said. "I LOVE to fish! I thought I could come live here."

"Cool," I said, not being able to think of anything else to say. For some reason I recognized her from somewhere...

"I used to be a pop star..." she said sadly.

That's it! She's that pop star my little sister Jill is obsessed about!

"But I decided to take an early retirement," she continued. Poor Jill will be crushed. Her hero's retiring!

"Really?" I asked. "Why?"

"Well," Lanna sighed. "I'm just not making any more hits. My record company called me a 'one-hit wonder'."

"My sister's a huge fan of your's," I said. Lanna's face lit up.

"Really?" She asked happily. "Maybe I could give her my autograph!"

"I'm sure she'd love that," I said. Now I have a birthday present for her. Yessssssss! Jill was always hard to shop for...

Lanna pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and signed it. "Here you go!" she handed me the paper, smiling widely. "I better go. Bye, Chelsea!" she skipped away happily, humming.

A few minutes later, Julia came screaming up the path towards my farm. "Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea!"

"What is it, Julia?" I asked her.

"You know that pop star, Lanna?" Julia asked. I nodded. "She's living on the island!" she started screaming and jumping up and down.

"I didn't think you'd like her music," I said.

"I don't," Julia stopped jumping. "But she's FAMOUS and living on THIS island!"

"She's not that famous," I said. "She told me her record company called her a 'one-hit wonder'."

"Oh, whatever." Julia scoffed. "She's still SOMEWHAT famous. Do you think we'll be friends?"

"She likes fish," I said. "She actually came here because of the fish."

Julia face drooped. "Screw her!" she then walked away without another word.

* * *

The week quickly came and went, and Vaughn was back. I wanted to go talk to him immediately, but then Julia would get ideas. So, I waited until Wednesday night.

"Hey Vaughn," I said to him. He was walking around in West Town.

He looked at me, grunted something, and looked away.

"Uh..." I didn't exactly know how to respond to a grunt. "I, uh, just wanted to, um, thank you for saving me last week."

He looked at me. His cold purple eyes stared at me. I felt like I had just shrunk to the size of a mouse, and Vaughn was a huge giant. That's what his eyes did to me.

"Yeah, whatever," he said, and looked away again.

I just stood there, staring at him for a while.

Suddenly, this huge anger ran through my body, and I just started screaming at him. "Why the hell do have to be so mean? I thanked you for SAVING me, and all you say is 'yeah whatever'?"

He stared at me with his emotionless eyes.

"You COULD show some emotion, too!" I continued yelling at him. "Would it kill you to smile? One bitchy girl broke your heart; get over it! Life is full of heartbreak, and you're just going to have to live with it!"

A look of hurt and sadness swept across his face.

"NOW you show SOME feelings!" I screamed. "You know what? You're just a big baby! Yeah! You are! People are going to hurt you! GET! OVER! IT!"

People were crowding around staring at us now.

"Uh, Chelsea?" Julia asked nervously, as if she were afraid I would start screaming at her. "Calm down,"

I groaned angrily. "Forget it!" I screamed, and stomped away.

* * *

About half-an-hour later, there was a knock on my door.

"Chelsea?" it was Julia. "May I come in?"

"Whatever," I sighed, and fell down onto my bed.

"What was that about?" Julia asked.

I sat up. "I don't know," I said. "I just got angry at him for being so cruel and emotionless because one girl broke his heart."

"It wasn't just that one girl," Julia said sympathetically. "Vaughn's life was full of heartbreak and sadness,"

"What happened?" I asked, curious.

"It's not my story to tell," she said quietly.

"Please tell me?" I begged.

"It's not for me to tell," Julia said, practically repeating herself.

"Well, Vaughn's not going to tell me after I screamed at him," I said.

"Well that's your fault; not mine." Julia said.

"Julia?" I asked.

"What?" there was cold air to her voice.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't be mad at you," she said.

"I'm nice," I said hopefully.

"Really?" Julia said sceptically. "Because what happened back there shows otherwise."

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't apologize to me," she said. "Apologize to Vaughn," She got up, and walked out the door.

"My life has been falling apart since he got here," I muttered, and closed my eyes sleepily.

**Me: Today, our visiter is Denny.**

**Denny: Yo.**

**Me: I'm beginning to think this should be a like a talk show. What do you think, Denny?**

**Denny: ... Sure...?**

**Me: Ok! It'll be called... Ruins Talk Show starring HarvestMoonLuv! (I have to give some credit to lollipopdiego; she's using something like this in her story The Carpenter, Cook, and Hikari)**

**Denny: Ok?**

**Me: Now, what do you think of Chelsea's explosion towards Vaughn?**

**Denny: I think it's crazy. Poor Vaughn didn't do anything. But Julia was kind of weird at the end; she was all sympathetic at first but then got all cold and cruel.**

**Me: Like Vaughn?**

**Denny: Yiep.**

**Me: Ok... That just proves how weird Julia is.**

**Denny: Yiep.**

**Me: That's all the time we have for today, folks! Check in in a few days for another chapter and another session of Ruins Talk Show starring HarvestMoonLuv! **

**Denny: Oh, and don't forget to review!**

**Me: Yepp! BYE! *waves***


	8. Tears

**Yesssss! I got an update in before the week starts! I would have got it in earlier, but we were out all weekend. We had a party at our house Friday night, a birthday party Saturday afternoon, breakfast at our friend's house this morning, and supper at our other friend's house tonight. Oh, and I checked my story traffic, and a total of about 240 people have visited this story, and only about... 10 have reviewed. Some of you multiple times. If I did my math right, that mean about 0.24% of you have reviewed. (correct me if I'm wrong) That's not even 1%! *tsk, tsk, tsk***

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

**Forward... MARCH!**

Tears

"Great. This is just great..." I rubbed my forehead, and sighed. "My friends all hate me and I just screamed at a man who apparently lost everything..."

_I would have told you to stop, but you couldn't hear me over your yelling._

That stupid voice! _Go away! Do you think I don't have enough problems already? I don't need some voice talking to me in the back of my head!_

_You think I'm a voice? No, no, no... I'm not in your head. You're actually hearing me. _

_What? Where are you then?_

_Down here!_

I looked down and saw a little person wearing red on the floor. I would have screamed if it hadn't jumped up and covered my mouth.

"I'm a Harvest Sprite!" it screeched. Its voice hurt my ears. It was too high!

"What in Goddess's name is a Harvest Sprite?" I asked.

"We're like little people," it said. "We watch over the areas on this island. I'm the guardian of your farm! My name's Noe."

"Uh... Ok?" I said, still confused.

"Have you seen that little pink house on your farm?" Noe asked.

"Yeah?" This was extremely weird.

"That's where I live," he said. "I'm going to be watching you, Chelsea, and make sure you don't get yourself into anymore screw-ups."

"Good luck with that..." I muttered.

"Well, bye!" he hopped down off the table and across the floor. I almost laughed; he looked so funny. He somehow opened the door without touching the handle, and out he went.

"Ok..." I sighed. "Now that that's done, what am I supposed to do about Vaughn, Julia, and everyone else? They all hate me now!"

"I should probably apologize to Vaughn..." I decided. I got up, and went to find him. He was inside the Animal Shop, standing at the back.

When I walked in, the room got really quiet. Felicia was chatting with Mirabelle, and Julia was talking to Natalie. Everyone stared at me, with angry expressions on their faces. I suddenly felt nervous and scared.

I walked over to Vaughn, and quietly said, "V-Vaughn I need t-to talk to y-you..."

"Why?" he said coldly.

"I-I want to apologize for screaming a-at you," I stuttered. "I-I didn't m-mean it... Julia t-told me that y-you have an u-unhappy past... I'm really sorry..."

Vaughn stared at me with those cold purple eyes of his. He then looked at Julia with a begging look on his face, and she shook her head. His face lost that pleading look, and turned cold.

"Fine," he said, and turned and went upstairs. I felt like screaming at him again, but restrained myself. Quietly, I left the Animal Shop.

* * *

The next day, there was a knock on my door. I opened it and nearly fell back in shock.

"I'm really sorry for being mean," Vaughn said.

I couldn't say anything. My mouth hung open, and I stood gaping like a fish.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Vaughn asked.

"Uh..." I shut my mouth. "I'm sorry..." I shyly looked at the floor. We both stood there for a few minutes. Vaughn reached into his pocket, and his face went pale.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried.

"N-Nothing," he muttered. "I just can't find something..." he reached into his other pocket. His face turned pure white.

"I'll help you look for it," I said. "What is it?"

"A-A small black box," he said. He made the shape of a box with his hands. "About this big. I need it for work..."  
"Where were you before this?" I asked.

"I came straight from the Animal Shop to here," he said.

I looked around my house, and down along the path to the Animal Shop. When I turn around, I see a small black box lying on the side of the path. I grab it, and open it up. Inside there's a picture of a family of four. There's a man with brown hair and bright purple eyes, a woman with silver hair and dark brown eyes, a little boy with silver hair and happy purple eyes, and a small girl with brown eyes and brown hair.

A shadow looms over me, and I looked up and see Vaughn. There's a sad, hurt expression on his face. I put the lid back on the box, and hand it to him.

"Was that your family?" I ask. He nods silently.

"They're all gone now..." he whispers. Tears begin to form in his eyes.

"What happened?" No! Chelsea you idiot! Can't you see he probably doesn't want to talk about them?

"I-I don't remember..." he said, and looked away.

"What?" I asked.

"All I know is that there was a car crash," he said. "And I got amnesia. Most of my childhood memories haven't been remembered. The doctors said they probably never will..." he looked at the sky, as if searching for his lost memories.

"I-I'm sorry," I whispered, and looked at the ground. "I should have never yelled at you. I'm so sorry, Vaughn." Tears began to well in my eyes. I'm so stupid! I had yelled at a man who lost everything, even his memory.

"It's ok," Vaughn said softly. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around him. He just stood there, frozen. Eventually, he relaxed and hugged me back.

The door to the Animal Shop swung open, and Julia stepped outside. "Vaug─" when she saw us, she stopped, and went quietly back into the Animal Shop.

We stood like that for a few more minutes, both of crying buckets. Vaughn eventually let go, and so did I. He looked at me, tears streaming down his face, and left.

I stood there for a while longer, still bawling like a baby, until I decided to go home.

* * *

"Chelsea?" a soft voice called from behind my door. "It's me; Julia."

I got up and went over to the door. I still hadn't stopped crying. "What is it?" I asked.

"I just want to say I'm sorry," she said.

"For what? I should be the one apologizing." I said.

"No, I'm sorry for being mad." She said. "I understand why you were mad. I would be mad to if someone was always so cranky and depressed, and I thought they had no reason to be."

I noticed then that her eyes were red and puffy, and tears streaked her face.

"Why are you crying?" I asked her.

"It's just that... Mom and I are Vaughn's only family now. He lost everyone, and then that bitch broke his heart. I wish he could just be happy..." she started crying again, and I hugged her tight.

"He will be happy," I said, reassuring her. "He'll find someone he loves, and they'll love him back. Trust me. He'll be happy someday."

I just hope I was right.

**Me: And... welcome to Ruins Talk Show starring HarvestMoonLuv. But you can call me Harvest (It's much easier to say). Our visitor today is... Eliza!**

**Eliza: Hello! Hello! *courtseys***

**Me: *rolls eyes* So, what do you think of the story so far?**

**Eliza: It's great! But I think I should get a lead role. Even be in the summary. MAKE-UP!**

**Me: Eliza,**

**Eliza: Yes?**

**Me: There's no make-up. This is an imaginary talk show created by a 12-year-old.**

**Eliza: Whatever... **

**Me: Well, that's all the time we have today!**

**Eliza: I thought we had like, 4 more sentences?**

**Me: Hi.**

**Me: Hi.**

**Me: Hi.**

**Me: Hi.**

**Me: There! They're all used up. Run along now! Don't you have to be bratty somewhere else.**

**Eliza: Not 'till 9.**

**Me: Just go!**

**Eliza: *walks pompously away***

**Me: Well, not that that's over... REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


	9. Blah, Blah, Blah

**Sorry for not updating. I'm stressed about something... Like REALLY stressed. It took me almost an hour to write the last few sentences. I kept pausing to scream. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

**Grrrrr... :(**

Blah, Blah, Blah

Word got around fast about what happened between Vaughn and I. Soon, I was forgiven by the whole island.

It began getting hotter each day, and summer was soon in full force. It got tougher to work, but I somehow went the first few days of summer without passing out.

On the fifth day of summer, I was watering my crops, and the sun was beating down harshly on my back. I was getting tired, and my mouth was already dry. Deciding to take a quick break, I stumbled over to the shade of a small tree that was growing near the back of my farm.

I dropped my watering can, and all the water spilled out onto the cool shaded grass. I fell to my knees, and collapsed. Everything went black, and I lost all sense of feeling.

* * *

It felt like a few seconds had passed when I opened my eyes. The harsh light coming in from my window nearly blinded me, but my eyes quickly adjusted. I looked around, and saw I was lying in my bed. The blankets were pulled up to my chin, and someone was sitting beside my bed in a chair.

I pulled my hands out from under the blankets, and rubbed my eyes. I found Julia sitting there, her face buried in her hands.

"Julia?" I said, in a raspy voice. My throat felt dry; like the day it had when I washed up onto this island.

Her head snapped up, and she stared at me. "Chelsea?" she asked. "How do you feel?"

"Ok, I guess," I murmured. "Except my throat is REALLY dry."

"Well, you were out for almost two days." She said, and got up to get me a drink.

"Two days?" I shrieked.

"Yep," Julia called from the kitchen. "I came to invite you to supper on Wednesday, and found you passed out beneath a tree,"

"What about my crops?" I asked nervously. God, Chelsea! You were out for two days and all you care about is your crops?

I heard Julia laugh a little in the kitchen. "They're fine," she said. "Taro made Elliot and Natalie take care of them." She walked back into the room, and handed me the water.

"Have you been eating enough?" she asked me.

"Sometimes I cook myself a meal," I said. "I'm usually too busy. Most of the time I eat that coloured grass, or I don't eat at all."

"No wonder you passed out!" Julia said. "You need to eat at least three proper meals a day."

"It's not my fault I can't have three 'proper meals a day'!" I said.

"That's why you're going to come over to our house every other day for supper!" Julia declared proudly.

"What about the other day?" I asked. Oh my Goddess, Chelsea! They invite you to dinner every other day, and all you care about is what you're supposed to do when you're not going to their house?

"I'll make sure you have a proper meal," Julia said. "God, I wish there was at least one restaurant on this island!"

"Looks like your wish was answered," I said to Julia three days later. We were standing in front of a small building with the word CAFÉ written across the top.

"I guess it was," Julia said. "Now you can have a proper meal every day!"

"But eating at restaurants costs money," I pointed out. "Which I don't have a lot of!"

I had just spent most of my money to hire Gannon to fix the bridge to the forest. It wasn't finished yet, but Gannon was working on it.

"I'm sure Mom and I can lend you some money!" Julia said.

"I can't accept your money," I said. A little voice in the back of my head squeaked, _Yes you can! Yes you can!_ Oh, Goddess, another Harvest Sprite?

"Sure you can!" Julia said.

_Yes!_

"Mom and I have enough to spare," she said. "Besides, the thing that matters most is that you're healthy."

"God, you sound like my mother!" I groaned.

Julia narrowed her eyes at me. "Fine," she pouted. "Pass out again! I won't go looking for ya!"

I sighed. Julia was so immature… yet so mature. "Ok, ok," I said. "I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven," Julia sniffed. "Now let's check this Café out!" she grabbed my hand and pulled me through the doors.

* * *

"Ohmigod, this is the best sandwich I've ever had!" Julia cried, and took a huge bite out of the sandwich she was holding.

"It's a sandwich, Julia," I told her. "It can't be THAT good,"

"But it is!" Julia took another ginormous bite.

I finished my salad, and leaned my elbows against the table. I began singing a song I learned in kindergarten in my head.

_Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…_

I was suddenly curious as to why Vaughn only spent Wednesdays and Thursdays on the island. Without thinking, I asked Julia.

She looked at me. "Why are you interested in my cousin?" she asked. A few seconds later, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "You like him, don't you?"

"No!" I screamed. I felt like a little girl back in elementary school.

"Yes you do," Julia teased. "You hugged him the other day, and now you're asking questions about him."

"I only hugged him because I felt sorry for him," I said matter-of-factly. "The poor guy lost everything!"

"Then why are you asking about him?"

"I was curious," I said. "Most people don't go back and forth between two places."

Julia sighed. "Fine," she said. "But I still think you like him."

* * *

The next day was Wednesday, and I ate supper with Julia and Mirabelle… and Vaughn.

He seemed a bit more relaxed than the last time, but he was still uncomfortable. Julia made me sit next to him again.

Julia talked non-stop the whole meal. No one could fit a word into the conversation.

"Its soooo hot outside," she said. "Why is it hot in summer? Why not winter?"

"It's the way─" Mirabelle started, but was interrupted.

"Maybe it's the way the sun is positioned..." Julia said thoughtfully.

"It i─" I tried to say, but Julia just kept blabbering.

Vaughn started to look annoyed at his cousin's constant chatter.

"Can you shut up for just a minute?" he screamed.

Everyone froze and stared at him. A hurt look crossed Julia's face.

"Vaughn!" Mirabelle said. "I know Julia's talking is annoying, but it's no reason to snap at her!"

Vaughn scowled, then grabbed his plate, dumped it in the sink, and left.

Julia didn't say another word the whole meal.

**Me: Welcome to Ruins Talk Show, hosted by HarvestMoonLuv! Our guest today is Natalie.**

**Natalie: Yo.**

**Me: So, Natalie, how do you like the story?**

**Natalie: It's cool.**

**Me: Now tell me, what would you do if you were stressed, angry at some guy, and your best friend hated you?**

**Natalie: ... O_O ...**

**Me: Yeah. That's what crap is going on in my life.**

**Natalie: Uh... I'd kick the guy's ass, set my best friend straight, and... well I'm guessing the last two problems were the cause of your stress.**

**Me: Ok. That's all the time we have folks! See you next time on Ruins Talk Show!**

**^That's what happens when you a story while stressed.**


	10. Choking on my Words

**Finally! I got an update in! This chapter will shock you so much you'll fall out of your chair. Sorry for not updating. I just couldn't think of anything! But I thought of something near the end of this chapter, and it was an Aha! moment. Soooo, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Hopefully it makes up for the lack of updates.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

Choking on my Words

I didn't see Vaughn at all the next day until the evening. He was wandering around on the beach, staring at the sky and the waves.

I silently walked over to him, trying not to disturb him. He looked deep in thought... worried, really.

"Hi," I said quietly, not wanting to scare him. He still jumped.

"What do you want?" he asked, annoyed. "Go annoy someone else!"

"I-I'm sorry," I said. Sometimes, Vaughn made me feel like a little, puny mouse.

Vaughn sighed. "No, I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that... I was... thinking."

"About what?" I asked, brightening up.

_NOOOO!_ My "conscience" screamed.

_What?_

_Maybe he doesn't want to tell you what he was thinking about. THINK, DARN YOU, THINK!_

_I'm sorry! I don't think before I say things!_

_Well start! It'll help you in the long run, trust me!_

"My family," Vaughn muttered. "I just wish I remembered them... The only things I know about them are what Mirabelle told me, and that's not much, considering she wasn't in my life until... they died..."

"I'm really, truly sorry," I said.

"About what?" Vaughn asked, looking down at me.

"Everything," I said, and hugged him. It was just like the last time; he was nervous but loosened up after a while.

We both stood there, hugging each other, watching the waves hit the sandy beach. I felt... peaceful, and happy.

I wondered if Vaughn felt the same way...

Vaughn left the next day, like he did every week. I actually kind of missed him. He was sweet and kind, once you saw through that mean, nasty side of him.

Just like Mirabelle said.

Julia started talking non-stop once her cousin left. I guess she knew better than to get on Vaughn's bad side.

"Sooooo," she said as we started walking from the beach. "Do you like Vaughn? Huh? Huh? Do you like him?" she reminded me of a squirrel that had had two shots of espresso with whip cream.

"First of all, calm down!" I said. "Second of all, I don't know him too well."

"But you've hugged him TWICE!" Julia said.

"Yeah, bu─" I froze. "How did you know I hugged him a second time?"

Julia's hand flew to her mouth. "Oops," she said behind her fingers.

"You were following me!" I yelled, and hit her on the arm.

"No, not true." Julia said. "I was following VAUGHN, not YOU."

I rolled my eyes. "You stalker!" I continued walking across the sandy beach to the path.

"I am not a stalker," Julia pouted. "I'm just curious, that's all. I wanted to know if he was going to go see you."

"Why would he be going to see me?" I asked.

"I don't know," Julia shrugged. "I thought maybe he liked you..."

"Julia, that man wouldn't like me if I gave him all the money in the world," I stated.

"I don't know about that," Julia said sceptically.

I sighed. "I don't like him, Julia," I said.

"Ok," Julia pouted. "I believe you..." she walked away solemnly.

* * *

"Oh my god, Chelsea!" I was woken up the next morning by Julia, banging on my door. When I opened it she was in tears.

"What happened, Julia?" I asked.

"V-Vaughn..." she gasped.

"What about him?" I felt scared inside, and didn't really want to hear what happened.

"He... He..." Julia choked on her words. "He's..."

"He's what?" I screamed at her. I grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently.

"He's..." Julia coughed violently, and began shaking helplessly.

Tears were streaming down my face now. Something horrible must have happened to him. I tried to wipe the tears away, but they kept falling.

"What happened to him, Julia!" I was screaming at the top of my voice.

Julia fell to her knees, and cried into her hands.

I knelt down in front of her, put my hands on her shoulders. "What happened to Vaughn, Julia?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"He's..." She looked up at me with huge, tear-filled eyes. "He's... dead."

**Me: H-Hello, and w-welcome to Ruins T-Talk Show!**

**Noe: What's wrong with you?**

**Me: Have you read this chapter?**

**Noe: I can't read...**

**Me: But you're a Harvest Sprite!**

**Noe: So? Can you tell me what happened?**

**Me: Vaughn dies!**

**Noe: :O **

**Me: Yeah... *breaks into hysterical tears***

**Noe: O_O *silently slips away***

**Me: R-R-R-R-Review, please... *continues sobbing***


	11. Just Another Lost Soul

**Ok, this chapter is kind of depressing. But I'm tired, and I come up with depressing ideas when I'm tired. The next chapter will be happier, though!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

Just Another Lost Soul

I sat there, frozen. Vaughn was... dead? How is that possible? How could he be DEAD?

Julia was still gasping and crying hysterically. "W-What...?" I asked, shocked.

"You heard me!" Julia screamed through tears. "He's dead! Dead, dead, dead!"

I stood up. I felt... shell-shocked. Even though I wasn't exactly FOND of Vaughn, he was still my friend... in ways. I began walking aimlessly down the path towards the town. Julia stopped sobbing, and I could tell she was watching me. After a while, I heard her ghost-like footsteps behind mine.

A few steps later, I found myself in front of Mirabelle's Animal Shop, opening the door. Mirabelle was on the phone with someone, crying madly.

I walked right over to their couch and sat down. Julia did the same. We both sat there; me shocked and speechless, Julia crying like a madwoman.

After a few minutes, Mirabelle hung up the phone. She came over to where we were sitting and sat down beside Julia.

"W-What happened?" I asked, finally able to speak.

"His... boat sank..." Mirabelle said quietly. "Everyone was killed. They ran into a storm, and..." she seemed unable to carry on. She burst into tears, and began crying into her hands.

"I can't believe he's dead!" she screamed.

Suddenly, the door burst open and in walked Felicia, Elliot, Natalie, and Taro. Felicia ran over to Mirabelle and began trying to calm her down. Taro and Elliot stood awkwardly to the side, while Natalie rushed over to Julia and I and began crying, too.

I was the only one not crying. I just couldn't cry... I don't know why. Eventually, I got up and began walking around the house. No one seemed to notice I was gone. I winded up in Vaughn's room, where he stayed while he was on the island.

I walked slowly around the room, taking in every detail. The black blankets on the bed... The colour of the carpet... Everything. I walked over to the wooden dresser and opened one of the drawers. Inside, rows of Vaughn's clothes were neatly stacked.

I picked up one of his shirts and held it to my face. It smelled just like him...

I snapped my eyes open. I quickly dropped the shirt back into the drawer and slammed it shut. I slid to floor and buried my face in my hands.

_Why do you care that he's dead? _I asked myself. _You never liked him! He was cruel, rude, and mean. _

_But... _I protested with myself. _He lost everything. Everyone. And now he lost his life. It seems so unfair._

_Tons of things in this world are unfair! You just have to suck it up, buttercup._

_Yeah, but after all he's been through..._

_Death was probably a relief. Who knows; maybe he WANTED to die._

_Why would he want to die?_

_Think about... he lost his family, and he never had happiness. Would YOU want to live like that?_

I sighed. I guess that was true... Maybe he did want to die. He always seemed so unhappy, no matter what happened.

I got up off the floor and walked quietly back to where everyone else was. They were all still crowded around the couch. I could hear Julia and Mirabelle crying like there was no tomorrow.

I stood in the doorway for a while, but decided to leave. I just didn't want to deal with all that crying.

I was walking around, wondering where to go, when I remembered the bridge to the forest was probably finished. I walked across, and found myself surrounded my lush, green trees and life.

I walked through the woods, until I found a small clearing. There was a pond, and a run-down, grey building. There was a sign, but like all the others were, it was too faded to read.

I wandered over to the pond, and sat down cross-legged in front of it. I picked up a little pinkcat flower and began twirling it. Around, and around, and around...

I stopped twirling it, and stared at it. I lifted my hand, and tossed it into the pond. It floated there for a minute, and then green and blue sparkles appeared over the flower.

I slowly stood up. The sparkles wound all around until they were shaped like a funnel. Suddenly, a woman appeared where the sparkles had been. She had long green hair woven into a braid, and green eyes. She was wearing a lovely light blue outfit, and gold wristbands.

"Hello, Chelsea," she said in a musical, echoing voice.

"Whoa," I stumbled backwards, and fell into the dirt.

"I am the Harvest Goddess," she said. "Thank you for your offering."

"The... T-The... The Harvest Goddess!" I stuttered. She nodded.

Suddenly, a bell chimed out of nowhere. I looked around, but there wasn't one.

"I must be going now," she said. "Good-bye, Chelsea..." There was a burst of sparkles, and she was gone. I stood up, dusted myself off, and looked around some more. There was a mountain, and a mine. I was never really one for mining, so I continued up to the top.

It was so peaceful up there. You could see everything. I looked to my right and saw the whole island. There was a meadow, and a jungle. When I looked closely, I saw that almost everyone on the island was surrounding Mirabelle's shop.

When I looked to the left, there was the ocean. The vast, deep ocean. There were a few boats here and there, but mostly wide open sea.

And when I looked in front of me, there was nothing. Just sky... The beautiful, light blue sky. There was a hardly a cloud in it. The sun was rising high in the sky; it must be noon.

But when I looked down, there was a small clearing, and then forest. Tons and tons of forest. I shuffled a little bit closer to the edge. It was just too easy to just fall. I could fall right off the cliff, and onto the hard cold ground, into nothingness.

If I fell, I would be just another lost soul. Just another person who didn't deserve to die, but did. I could be just like Vaughn.

Except, my life was happy. I had my family; I had love, and happiness. Why would I want to die? Julia would suffer another loss, and my parents... Oh, they would be heartbroken! And Jill... sweet, little Jill. She doesn't need to lose her big sister, not yet at least.

But... I don't know why, I just found it too hard to keep going. I didn't want to die; I felt the NEED to die. It was like I was thinking, _Since Vaughn died, why shouldn't I die? He didn't deserve to die, and neither do I. But he DID die, so I can die too. _

I moved a bit closer to the edge. No, Chelsea, don't do it. Not for someone you hardly know. I moved away. But he was so young! He didn't deserve to die! I moved closer. Think of your friends, Chelsea, and your family. How would they feel if you died? Away. But think of Vaughn. Why did he die? Why can't YOU die? Closer. Vaughn's with his family now! He's happy! Away.

Out of nowhere, a huge cracking noise pierced the air. The ground beneath me crumbled, and I fell.

As I looked down at the ground coming closer to me, all I could think was, _Just another lost soul..._

The ground came closer, closer, closer... And a sharp pain ran through my whole body.

_I didn't want to die._ I thought. The pain became unbearable, and I blacked out.

_Please, I don't want to be another lost soul._

**Me: Well, wasn't that a feel good chapter! NOT!**

**Lanna: Ohmigod, depressing! :'(**

**Me: I told you! *breaks down crying* Vaughn's still dead, and now Chelsea's probably dead, too!**

**Lanna: I hate you! *throws baseball bat at***

**Me: AHHH! *ducks* Now, now! Calm down!**

**Lanna: *cries hysterically***

**Me: The next chappie will be happy. Promise!**

**Lanna: *sniffs* Ok...**

**Me: Well, review please! Tell me what you think of it! And again, I'm sorry for the sadness. I'm tired, and I write depressing things while I'm tired!**


	12. Three Stories

**Hurray for updates! You guys have probably been waiting for this chapter :P Oh, and I'm sorry if any of the legal crap in the chapter is wrong; I'm not a lawyer! Hmmmm, that might have given you a hint as to what this chapter is about *wink, wink***

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

Three Stories

_Beep, beep, beep…_ That's all I could hear. What is that? Beep, beep, beep… I tried to open my eyes, but it felt like they were glued shut. When I tried to move my arms or legs, they just wouldn't budge.

_Beep, beep, beep…_ Ok, that was getting annoying. I continued to try and open my eyes. Finally, I managed to open them a crack.

All there was was white. Am I dead? I don't want to be dead! After a while, I managed to open my eyes all the way. Everything cleared, and I realized I was in a hospital.

I looked around, and saw that the beeping was coming from a heart monitor. On the other side of the bed was... was... My heart nearly stopped. _Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep, beep, beep... _

It was Vaughn.

Ok, I MUST be dead. There's no WAY Vaughn could be alive! Oh my God, I'm dead! Dead, dead, dead! What about my parents? Jill? Julia? What about them? Oh God no, I can't be dead! No, no, no, no!

"V-Vaughn?" I whispered, still in shock.

He nodded.

"I thought you were dead! Julia came to my house in tears and said so!" I gasped.

"I'm not dead," Vaughn said quietly. "I came close to it, though."

"How did you survive?" I asked. "Mirabelle said everyone on your ship died!"

"Not me," Vaughn said. "It seems I was the only one who had SOME common sense. When we hit those rocks, I jumped right on top of one of them. I was up there for days, until some fishermen found me."

"Days?" I asked. "But... How long was I asleep?"

"At least a full season," Vaughn said.

"Why is it that I'm always blacking out?" I asked.

Vaughn chuckled, and shook his head.

"So... I'm not dead?"

"You're very much alive. But you almost DID die." He said.

"Oh, Vaughn," I said quietly. "I was so scared when I heard you died. Then, I thought maybe you WANTED to die. But I kept thinking it was so unfair for you to die, and... and..." I couldn't go on. I broke down in tears.

Vaughn wrapped his arms tightly around me. I was shocked at first, but calmed down after a while. It felt good to be there in his arms... I stopped crying, and rested my head on his shoulder.

"You're different, Chelsea," Vaughn whispered. "You actually see me as a human being, not some creepy, anti-social cowboy with no feelings."

"Everyone has feelings, Vaughn," I said. I looked up at him. "When I first met you, I thought you were mean and cold."

Vaughn sighed. "I was, and I still am," he said. "I guess I'm just... scared to open up my heart to anyone."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well..." Vaughn said quietly. "After my parents died and I lost my memory, I felt different from everyone else; like I didn't belong anywhere. When I was in high school, I met this girl who I thought really knew how I felt. We dated for a few years, and then she broke my heart..."

"What did she do?" I asked.

Vaughn sighed again. "I don't exactly remember," he confessed. "I blocked her out of my memory, and became even more cruel, mean, and anti-social. People would make fun of me, and I would get really angry. One day, this guy was being really nasty to me..."

He paused, and sighed another time.

"I've never really told anyone this. Only Julia and Mirabelle know." He said.

"You can tell me Vaughn," I said. "I won't tell a soul."

Vaughn nodded. "Well, I got really angry with this guy. I started beating him up, and even after he begged me to stop, I didn't. Some other people had gathered around, and one finally decided to call the police."

I stared at him, my mouth wide open.

"They came and... I was arrested and charged with GBH with intent." He said quietly.

My eyes were practically bulging out of my head. Vaughn went to jail? Whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA.

"How'd you get out?" I whispered.

There was silence for a few minutes, before Vaughn finally spoke.

"Mirabelle finally got enough money to bail me out..." he said quietly.

I just sat there, frozen. Vaughn... went to jail... I couldn't believe it.

"Why did you beat him up?" I asked.

"I was stupid," Vaughn said. "I didn't really understand what I was doing."

"Oh, Vaughn," I said. His eyes fell and looked at the floor. "What happened to the guy?"

"He recovered..." Vaughn said. "But he was scared of me afterwards. Everyone was. When I walked around school after I got out of jail, they all ran out of the way. I lost all my friends, and no one wanted to be around me. I eventually dropped out."

We both sat there in silence. The door suddenly burst open and in ran Julia.

"Chelsea!" she screeched when she saw I was awake. "Ohmigod, you're awake! You were out for a whole season! We thought you were dead! And then Vaughn showed up and... Eeeeeeeee!" she screamed and began jumping up and down. "I'm sooooo happy!"

"And hyper!" Mirabelle appeared in the doorway. "Young lady, sit down and calm yourself this instant before I beat you upside the head!"

Julia froze, and scurried over to the nearest chair. Yep, she was definitely a squirrel in a past life... one that liked coffee and sugar.

"Chelsea, dear, are you feeling all right?" Mirabelle asked, and walked over to the bed. "My Goddess, I was terrified when Vaughn showed up in town carrying your limp body in his arms."

"Wait, Vaughn found me?" I asked.

"Yes, didn't he tell you?" Mirabelle asked.

"No," I said.

"Well, when he heard no one could find you, he went looking for you. He looked everywhere. Eventually, he found you at the bottom of the cliff! I don't know HOW he got down there and back up, but by God he did it!" Mirabelle said, smiling. "He saved your life, Chelsea."

I looked at Vaughn, who was playing with his thumb. "Thank you, Vaughn," I said, smiling at him.

He looked up at me, nodded, and got up. He walked out the door, closing it behind him.

"He's so anti-social," Mirabelle whined. "You'll never get a word out of that boy!"

I smiled to myself, and looked at the door.

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show!**

**Harvest Goddess: I am not that serious! Why did you make me serious in that last chapter?**

**Me: Because it seemed cool.**

**HG: Well I am not serious! I DEMAND a rewrite!**

**Me: You're not a Goddess in the real world; you're a collection of pixels formed together to make the image of a Goddess.**

**HG: Thanks for ruining my LIFE! *cried***

**Me: Goddess, have you been drinking coffee... and talking to Julia?**

**HG: ...Maybe...**

**Me: No more!**

**HG: Ok...**

**Me: Oh, and about Julia... I know she's really not that hyper but it made the mood happier. Ok? Ok.**

**HG: -.- I'm tired... *yawns***

**Me: Then go home!**

**HG: -.- Ok... *disappears***

**Me: Wow, that was lame. Well... Bye! Oh, and review!**


	13. That Faded Sign

**This chapter's a cliffhanger, and a shocker. *le gasp* But, I promise to update sooooon.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

**To the story!**

That Faded Sign

After a week in the hospital, I was allowed to leave. It felt good to be back on Sunny Island. According to Julia, she had looked after my crops.

When I walked onto my farm, two 8X2 plots were in one corner of the field. There were eggplants in one, and carrots in the other.

I walked over to the plots, and sat cross-legged in front of them. A little caterpillar crawled across one of the eggplant leaves, and when he began to munch on it, I carefully took him off and put him on the ground. I watched him slowly crawl towards a tree, looking for a snack.

I smiled to myself, and fell backwards onto the dying grass. Winter was coming; too fast for me. It seemed like the year had gone by so quickly. Well, I had been asleep for most of fall.

I closed my eyes and felt the warmth of the sun. A cool wind blew, but I didn't mind. A few minutes later, a shadow appeared above me. I opened my eyes, and found Julia leaning over me.

"Hello!" she said in her peppy voice. She fell back and sat down on the grass beside me. "What are you doing?"

I shrugged. "Relaxing, I guess..." I muttered.

"Oh, ok." Julia and I sat there in silence, before she couldn't take it anymore. "This is too boring," she said, and got up. I didn't really mind after she left; she could be annoying at times.

I was getting a little bored myself, so I got up and stared wandering around the island. I decided to visit the forest; I hadn't seen much of it.

When I crossed the bridge, I saw someone standing amongst the trees that I had never seen before. She had long, curly blonde hair and red eyes. There was a black cape around her shoulders, and she was wearing a purple dress and black boots.

She said something, but I couldn't understand what it was. Then, she began walking away. I decided to follow her; she seemed like an interesting character.

We both ended up at some purple house in a small clearing. Suddenly, sparkles appeared and an orange Harvest Sprite popped up.

"Hello! I'm Neil!" he said. "You better be careful around here; there's a witch!"

"Yeah, ok," I scoffed, and walked over the little sprite and into the "witch's" house.

"She really is a witch!" I heard Neil call after me before I shut the door.

Inside, the "witch" was talking to a giant teddy bear. Her house seemed kind of creepy; there were books and bottles of who knows what everywhere. Not to mention a ginormous, bubbling pot of liquid.

"What was that?" the woman asked the teddy bear. "There's someone behind me?"

I froze. Either that teddy bear was alive, or this woman was a lunatic.

She spun around, her red eyes glaring at me. "Who do we have here?" she hissed. She slowly walked over to me. When I didn't talk, she began chanting in some freakish language. "Oh, so your name's Chelsea?"

My eyes bulged out of my head. Ok, maybe Neil was right. This woman is a witch!

"And what are you doing in my home?" she asked.

I shrugged.

The witch sighed. "Ugh, I'm getting tired of acting 'sinister'," she said. "I'm the Witch Princess, blah, blah, blah! Now go away!"

She shooed me out of her house and went back to chatting with her teddy bear. I was pretty sure that Witch was crazy.

* * *

The next day, a man and a girl about my age appeared at the door. The man looked like a vampire, which scared me, and the girl was extremely pale and looked shy.

"Hello," the man said. "I am Regis, owner and president of the Regis Mining Company. I heard some precious gems were being found on this island, so I came to check out the mine myself!"

"Uh, ok." I said. "I'm Chelsea."

"This is my lovely daughter, Sabrina," he motioned to the girl standing next to him.

"H-Hello," Sabrina squeaked.

"Well, we really must be off." Regis said. "I have so much unpacking to do at my mansion!" he began mumbling to himself, while walking away. Sabrina shyly followed her father.

* * *

That night, I decided to take a short walk. The crisp fall air was cool and refreshing. A few owls hooted here and there, but it was mostly silent. I walked through the town to where one of the broken bridges was. I sat in front of it, my legs dangling over the water.

The cool water rushed beneath the broken bridge. I looked across and wondered if I'd ever get enough money to hire Gannon to fix it. It looked like there was a meadow; a great place to hold festivals.

As I looked around myself, I wondered what this town had been like before. I wondered who had owned my ranch, and what the other buildings had been used for. I got up and walked over to one of the building that was still vacant, and looked at the sign. In the darkness of night, I could barely make out the faded words.

I squinted, and looked harder at them. After that didn't work, I ran home, grabbed my camera, and ran back to the old building. I snapped a picture of the sign, and went home.

Once I was home, I stared at the picture, trying to figure out what it said. The flash on my camera had illuminated the words, making them easier to read.

"Bella..." I muttered, figuring out the first word on the sign. "Wil... Wilk..." I looked harder at the sign. "Wilkens... Bella Wilkens's!"

Wilkens... where had I heard that name before? Wilkens, Wilkens, Wilkens...

My eyes grew wide and my mouth fell open. "Wilkens..." I muttered. "That Julia and Mirabelle's last name!"

After I thought about it, Bella did seem like a good name for Mirabelle's sister. They sounded a lot alike. Could Bella Wilkens have been Vaughn's mother?

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show! Today, our guest is Charlie.**

**Charlie: Hiya!**

**Me: Yeah, hi Charlie.**

**Charlie: Got any candy?**

**Me: What?**

**Charlie: DO. YOU. HAVE. ANY. CANDY? C-A-N-D-Y. Sheesh!**

**Me: Uh... no.**

**Charlie: Later... *walks away***

**Me: *looks at reader* What the heck? *shakes head* Please review. Oh, and can someone tell me if Pierre has come into the picture yet? I'm too lazy to check myself *sigh* -.-**


	14. Bella Wilkens

**This chapter is yet another cliffhanger. I'm so mean, aren't I? But it's really shocking, and somewhat depressing. I was just in that tragic mood when I wrote this :P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. I DO own Bella Wilkens, as she is a figment of my imagination.**

**FORWARD MARCH!**

Bella Wilkens

That morning, I shyly walked into the Animal Shop, grasping my camera. It was Saturday, so Mirabelle wasn't behind the counter. Luckily, she was home, though.

"Hi, Mirabelle," I said meekly.

"Hello, Chelsea!" she said smiling. "Is there anything you need?"

"Um..." I muttered, thinking of what to say. "I was in East Town last night, and I saw one of the faded old signs... I tried to read, but couldn't. So, I took a picture of it and tried to read it at home. I eventually read it, and it said Bella Wilkens's."

Mirabelle's face fell, and was drained of all its colour.

"I was just wondering..." I said quietly. "If she was your sister..." I looked up at her.

Mirabelle was rubbing her head. "Yes..." she sighed. "Bella was my sister. She lived on this island before she got married..."

"Is Bella Vaughn's mother?" I asked.

Mirabelle nodded solemnly. "He doesn't know she lived here," she said. "Please don't tell him. I don't know what he'd do."

"Ok," I said. "I won't tell him."

"What are you guys talking about?" Julia entered the room, carrying a rather large cookbook.

"Aunt Bella," Mirabelle said.

"Oh," Julia said. "Why?"

"Chelsea found her old house," Mirabelle told her daughter.

"Really?" Julia looked at me. "I wonder what it looks like inside? Mom, can we go look?"

Mirabelle sighed. "Fine, whatever..." she mumbled. "Just be careful! It could be unstable!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Julia called as she dragged me out of the shop.

"Where was her house?" Julia asked me, and I led the way. We ran all the way to East Town, and to Bella Wilkens's old house.

"Whoa!" Julia gasped. "Cool!" she scrambled over and under the boards that crossed the door. "Chelsea!" she screamed out one of the windows. "You GOTTA get in here! It's so cool!"

I crawled through one of the windows, and landed face first on the floor.

We were inside a big, two-floor house. A dusty, mouth-eaten couch was resting against one wall, facing an empty TV stand. A cabinet was on another wall, with noting in it. There was a small kitchen, and a dining table with two chairs. A dirty rug was strewn across the rotting floor, along with various kitchen appliances like pots and pans.

Julia ran up the stairs, and I followed her slowly. Dirty pictures were hanging on the walls of the staircase, including one of a small girl and an older girl who looked a lot like Mirabelle.

"Look!" Julia took the picture of the wall. "This is Aunt Bella," she pointed to the younger girl. "And this is my mom!" she pointed to the older one. "I think she was twelve when this was taken," Julia said, hanging the picture back up.

We continued up the staircase, where a picture of two little boys was hanging. Julia also took that one off, but this time took the picture out of the frame. She cleaned it of dust, and we both stared in awe at the picture. A little boy of about three was sitting behind a little baby. The three-year-old had short silver hair and light purple eyes. The baby also had purple eyes, but his hair was brown.

"That's Vaughn," Julia gasped, pointing at the three-year-old.

"But Mirabelle said that Bella lived here BEFORE she got married and had kids," I said. "How would this picture get here?"

Julia shrugged.

"Maybe it's not Vaughn," I said. "Maybe one of them is his dad or uncle."

Julia flipped the picture over. In messy writing, the words _Vaughn, 3-years old _and _Jonathon, 6-months old_ were written on the back. Julia looked at me. "Jonathon was Vaughn's little brother's name," she said.

I grabbed the picture and read the names over and over again. I then pulled out my camera and snapped a front and back photo of the picture. I shoved the picture back into the frame, and hung it back up.

Julia and I continued up the stairs until we were on the top floor. A dirty old bed was lying in one corner, with a bedside table beside it. Another filthy rug was thrown across the floor, and a small armchair was in another corner.

Julia walked over to the bedside table and opened up the drawer. It was empty, except for a spider web and a huge spider. Julia screamed and slammed the drawer shut.

We wandered around the bedroom for a while, before deciding to go back downstairs. As we were about to walk onto the first step, a huge crack sound filled the room. We both looked up, and saw a huge crack had formed in the ceiling.

I stared at Julia and she stared at me. We both darted down the stairs, running as fast as we could. The crack got bigger, and the ceiling collapsed onto the second floor. We had made it down the stairs, but as we were clambering out the windows, the second floor collapsed onto the first.

Dust sprang up everywhere, and I began coughing furiously. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Somehow, I had managed to escape the falling ceiling. Rubble was everywhere, and I walked around looking for Julia. Sparks flew from wires that had been cut, and the furniture was in pieces.

I walked around as much as I could, but I couldn't find Julia anywhere.

"Julia!" I called out in a hoarse voice. "Julia, where are you!"

A muffled cry erupted from the debris. I ran over to where it was coming from and began digging through the broken ceiling.

After a while I found Julia, crushed beneath the ruins of the house. She had gone unconscious, and I yanked her out of her little hovel.

"Julia?" I asked quietly. "Julia, wake up! Wake up, Julia! Wake up!" I began shaking her, trying to get to wake up. I felt for her pulse, and to my relief, found one. It was faint and dying, but she was alive.

The sparks from the wires had created a huge fire, which was now raging all around me. I looked around desperately for an exit, but there was none.

"Help!" I screamed. "Help! Please!" It was getting hot, and Julia's pulse was fading. "Help!" I screamed, tears running down my dust and ash covered face. "Help me!"

I buried my face into my hands, and rested my head on my dying friend.

"Please..." I whispered.

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show!**

**Witch Princess: Hello.**

**Me: That chapter was depressing, was it not?**

**WP: Sure, whatever. *eats grape***

**Me: Ok... So, do you like the story?**

**WP: Yiope.**

**Me: Um... What do you think will happen next?**

**WP: *shrugs* Don't know, don't care.**

**Me: *glares* GET OFF MY LAND! GO ON, GIET!**

**WP: *narrows eyes* Fine! *steals grapes and runs***

**Me: :'( She stole my grapes. (as you can tell, I've been eating sugar: peanut M&M's!) Please review!  
**


	15. Unconscious Lies

**I might get another update in today or tomorrow, but no promises.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

Unconscious Lies

When I looked back up, I expected myself to be in a hospital, days, weeks, or seasons later. Instead, I was still leaning over Julia, and it was seconds later. The fire was still raging, and we were still alone.

I began crying again. I was so scared. What was going to happen to me? I was probably going to die.

All of a sudden, I heard something. It was like a muffled scream. I turned around slowly and saw a cowboy hat, sitting on top of the rubble, burning.

I screamed and jumped up. I looked around frantically. Vaughn was here? Vaughn was in this room? Oh my God, Vaughn was dying!

The flames were roaring high around me. There was no way out. I looked down at Julia. Her pulse was almost gone. If I left her now, I'd never see her again. But if I didn't leave, Vaughn would die. I looked from the flames, to Julia, Julia to the flames.

Without really thinking, I ran through the flames. I escaped without a scratch. I began digging through the debris, looking for Vaughn.

I eventually found him. He was unconscious, and like his cousin, dying. I pulled him out of the rubble. The flames were closing in on both of us, and Julia. I didn't know what to do.

"Help!" I screamed as a last attempt. "Please!"

Suddenly, a splash of water drenched Vaughn and I. I looked around, but the flames were still raging viciously.

Then, I heard someone. "Damn it, it's an electrical fire!"

It was Gannon!

"I'll get a fire extinguisher!"

Taro!

"Hurry!"

Mirabelle!

"Chelsea! Chelsea are you there?" Mirabelle screamed.

"Yes!" I screamed back. I couldn't believe it!

"Where's Julia? Is she ok?" Mirabelle called to me.

I bit my lip. What should I say? "No..." I said softly, but audible. "She's..." I looked back at the flames. There was no way Julia could have survived that. They had completely engulfed her. "Dead..."

A scream erupted from the other side of the flames.

Taro was back now, and he began dousing the flames with the fire extinguisher. I was soon covered in white foam, but the fire was out.

As soon as the fire was gone, Mirabelle rushed in, looking for Julia. She found her daughter's burnt, lifeless body where I had left it.

"Oh my God..." she whispered. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!"

I looked down at Vaughn. He was still unconscious, and covered in scrapes and burns. Mirabelle started crying miserably, and Felicia rushed in to help her.

Taro walked carefully across the rubble, and looked down at me.

"What is Vaughn doing here?" he asked. I shrugged. Honestly, I had no idea.

Taro sighed. "Come on, get up." He helped me up, and got Gannon to carry Vaughn out of the ruins.

* * *

I must have blacked out, because the next thing I knew I was in a hospital. Again. What was it? My THIRD time?

I sighed and closed my eyes again. I just wanted to sleep...

* * *

When I woke up the next time, it was darker outside. It must have been night.

I looked around, but couldn't see a thing. I decided to just go back to sleep.

* * *

It was light when I woke back up. Someone was sitting beside me, but I couldn't tell who. They were sitting with their head bent.

I just decided to close my eyes again. Maybe it would all make sense when I woke up.

* * *

This time, when I opened my eyes, it was light and everything was clear. When I looked around, I could fully see the person sitting beside my bed.

It was Vaughn.

"Chelsea?" he breathed.

I nodded.

"You're awake!" he sounded a little happy, but didn't really show it.

"Yeah?" I said, confused. "How long was I asleep?"

"Almost a week," he said. Oh, well that wasn't too bad.

"Oh, ok," I said quietly. Then, I felt sick to my stomach when I remembered what happened. "W-What happened to Julia?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Vaughn said, smiling slightly.

Wait, what? I thought Julia was dead? I saw her die myself!

The door opened, and in walked Julia, alive and not exactly well, but alive. She was covered in nasty burns and cuts, and had a broken leg.

She ran over to me as fast as her crutches could take her.

"Chelsea!" she screamed, and shoved Vaughn off his chair and sat down. "Oh my God Chelsea! You saved my life!" she wrapped her arms tightly around me.

I gasped for air she crushed me. That girl was strong, even if she was crippled.

She let go and looked at me, tears in her eyes. "If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead!" she burst into tears, and I looked at Vaughn. He shrugged.

"Uh..." I said. "It's Ok...?"

Julia sat up and wiped her eyes. She nodded.

I looked at Vaughn again. "What were you doing in the house?" I asked him. "You were supposed to be in the city."

Vaughn bit his lip. "Uh, about that..." he said nervously. Just as he was about to answer, Mirabelle burst through the door.

"Chelsea!" she screamed, sounding like her daughter. "Are you ok, sweetie?" I nodded. "You saved Julia AND Vaughn's life." She said, tearing up. "Thank you SOOOO much!"

I smiled at her.

Mirabelle turned to Vaughn. "Well, she's awake!" she said to him. "NOW will you tell me why you were in your mom's old house?"

Vaughn wasn't going to tell them until I woke up? Well that was stupid! And weird! And stupid!

"I..." he said quietly. "I was living up there..."

"What?" Mirabelle asked, shocked. "Why weren't you in the city, at your job!"

"Because..." Vaughn looked nervous. "I got fired..."

Mirabelle's eyes practically blew out of her head. "WHAT?" she roared angrily. "HOW COULD YOU GET FIRED! WHY DID YOU GET FIRED!"

Vaughn shrugged. "I don't know!" he screamed. "They just fired me!"

"So you decided to LIE to me about it and go live in a dirty, unstable hell-hole of a house!" Mirabelle yelled.

Vaughn glared at his aunt. Julia and I cowered together, watching the whole scene.

"What else was I supposed to do?" Vaughn finally screamed.

"Tell me you got fired!" Mirabelle yelled. I never thought Mirabelle would be one to scream.

"Why?" Vaughn said loudly. "What would you do about it? Go beg my boss for my job back? No! There would be no point in telling you! All I would get was sympathy, God damnit!"

Mirabelle stared at her nephew. "Vaughn," she said quietly. "I love you, and I respect you, but you can't go through life alone. Sometimes you need help."

"Well I don't need help now!" Vaughn roared, and marched out of the room.

"Wow..." Julia said. "That was... awkward."

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show! Today, our guest is Neil, the Harvest Sprite. (Damn, I wonder if Vaughn or Chelsea will ever come!)**

**Neil: Hello!**

**Me: Neil, do you like the story?**

**Neil: Niope.**

**Me: :O Why not?**

**Neil: I'm only in one chapter! It's not fair! Chelsea's in EVERY SINGLE chapter!**

**Me: 'Cause she's the narrator! It'd be weird to write a story from a Harvest Sprite's view!**

**Neil: No it wouldn't! You should do one! PLEASE!**

**Me: *sighs* I'll try, ok? *pats Neil's head***

**Neil: Hurray!**** *claps feet together in little wacky happy jump* **

**Me: Yeah, ok. Please review, and Merry Christmas!**


	16. Astounded

**I finally got a review in! Yay! And for those who have read my other story, Apple Sweet, I deleted the seqeul, Bitter Oranges. It's just too hard to write after marriage and I lose interest in it. Sorry! Oh, and I'm thinking of making a story for Grand Bazaar soon. It'll be Anita/GretelXAngelo, though. I LOVE ANGELO! :3**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. **

Astounded

I got out of the hospital two days later. Everyone was so happy to see that I was ok.

"I was so worried about you, Chelsea!" Felicia exclaimed when she saw me. "Do you feel alright? Oh, I was so terrified when I heard that house collapsed on you!"

"How ya feelin' Chelsea?" Gannon said, slapping me hard on the back.

"Good," I coughed out; he had knocked the wind right out of me!

I ate with Mirabelle, Julia, and Vaughn that night. Mirabelle and Vaughn were still furious with each other.

"I still can't believe he didn't tell me..." Mirabelle muttered while we were eating.

"Let it go, Aunt Mirabelle." Vaughn said.

"Vaughn," Mirabelle sighed. "I'm just worried about you. Ever since your parents died well... you've been so unhappy. And I KNOW you weren't like this before."

"No you don't," Vaughn scoffed. "You weren't in my life until you absolutely needed to!"

"After your mother died," Mirabelle said. "One of her close friend's gave me her diary. It was full of stories of you and your brother, and what happy, sweet children you were. I always wonder, where's that sweet little boy?"

Vaughn looked down at his hands. "I don't even know..." he whispered. When he looked up, his eyes seemed cloudy, like they were somewhere else.

Julia and I had been sitting there that whole conversation. It was like we weren't even there.

"Vaughn, sweetie," Mirabelle spoke up. "I know it's hard for you, not being able to remember you past. But you can't let that ruin your life."

Vaughn sighed. "It's kind of hard not to," he whispered.

"I know," Mirabelle said. "But you need to try."

Vaughn looked at her. "Ok," he muttered. "But what about my job?"

"You can stay here until you get a new job," Mirabelle said.

I don't know why, but I was excited to learn that Vaughn was going to be staying here for a few weeks.

After that whole conversation, we cleared the table and I went home. It was late and I had to get up early the next morning, so collapsed right onto bed.

It began getting colder each day. Winter was coming. I had to bundle up to go care for my few surviving crops. I was sitting on the frost covered ground late one morning when I decided to go get a chicken.

I already had a chicken coop, so all I needed was a chick and some bird feed. I got up and began walking towards Mirabelle's shop.

The bell rang cheerily as I opened the door. Mirabelle was behind the counter, flipping through a magazine. Julia was in the kitchen, most likely trying to learn how to cook. Every now and then the odd curse erupted from the back room.

"Watch your mouth, Julia!" Mirabelle called to her daughter.

"Hello, Mirabelle," I said, and walked over to the counter.

"Oh, hello Chelsea!" Mirabelle said, smiling. "What can I get for you?"

"A chick," I said. "And bird feed."

Mirabelle's smile widened. "Wonderful!" she exclaimed. She ran into the storage room and came back with a little chick.

"You keep chicks in your storage room?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mirabelle laughed. "Heavens, no!" she cried. "There's a door that leads to the chicken coop and barn," she said. She held the chick in front of her.

I took it in my hands and looked down at it. "Aw," I cooed. "It's so cute!"

"What are you gonna name it?" Mirabelle asked.

I thought for a minute. "Valerie," I finally said.

"Well, ok," Mirabelle said. "How many bags of bird feed to you want?"

"Ten," I called to her as she walked into the storage room. She came back with a cart full of bags of bird feed.

"I'll get Vaughn to bring it over," Mirabelle said. I paid her, and ran home.

I walked into my chicken coop and put Valerie onto the ground. I sat down cross-legged and watched her peck around on the ground. She looked so cute!

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the coop door.

"Yes?" I called, not taking my eyes off Valerie. I reached over and scooped her up into my hands.

The door opened and Vaughn walked in pulling the cart full of bird feed. He looked at me for a few seconds, and then started emptying the cart.

"What did you name it?" he asked.

"Valerie," I said, and put her back on the ground.

"Valerie?" Vaughn said sceptically. "That's an interesting name for a chicken."

"So?" I asked, looking at him.

"How'd you come up with Valerie?" he asked, putting the bags of bird feed into the feed dispenser.

I could feel my cheeks turning bright red. "Your name..." I muttered quietly.

Even though my back was turned to him, I knew Vaughn's face was as red as mine. Maybe redder.

"R-Really?" he stuttered.

I nodded. "I just thought of you since you love animals..." I muttered.

Valerie pecked around on the ground and waddled around the coop.

Vaughn and I stood in silence, watching her.

Suddenly, I remembered the picture. "Vaughn!" I screamed.

"What?" Vaughn exclaimed, jumping three feet in the air.

"I have something for you!" I said, and got up. I ran out of the coop and into my house to get my camera. I ran back to the chicken coop and burst through the door.

I flipped through the pictures on my camera until I found the one of the picture of Vaughn and his brother.

Vaughn looked at the picture and froze. "Johnny," he whispered. "I remember when this picture was taken. It was right before my third birthday."

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. "What did you say?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I said, I remember when this picture was taken." Vaughn said as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

Suddenly, he realized what I was astounded about. He looked at me, his eyes as huge as saucers. His mouth would have been touching the floor if that was humanly possible.

I screamed loudly, and ran out of the chicken coop. Vaughn ran after me, leaving Valeria alone in the coop wondering what had happened.

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show. Our guest today is Mirabelle.**

**Mirabelle: Hello!**

**Me: So, do you like the story?**

**Mirabelle: Yep! Except, I don't think I'm one to yell.**

**Me: *sighs* I know, but it just kind of fit in that chapter.**

**Mirabelle: *nods* I agree.**

**Me: What do you think of having a sister name Bella?**

**Mirabelle: It's very interesting. There are thousands of Vaughn stories out there, but hardly any of them actually mention his mother's name or anything like that.**

**Me: *nods* Yep, yep...**

**Mirabelle: Well, I have to go. I have food cooking on the stove back home, and Julia's probably going to start messing with it soon. Bye-bye!**

**Me: Bye! *looks at reader* Don't forget to review!**


	17. Foiled Mushrooms and Eavesdroppers

**FINALLY got an update in! It's been like... seven days or something. I may not update for a while again because school is back on -.- It's the first week back and I can't wait for it to be OVER! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

**Heh heh... you're-a gonna loooove this chapter :P**

Foiled Mushrooms and Eavesdroppers

"Mirabelle! Mirabelle!" I screamed, running down the path. "Mirabelle! You'll never guess what happened!"

I could hear the sound of Vaughn's shoes against the stone. I turned the corner and practically ran through the door. I slid across the floor of the shop and crashed into the wall.

"Chelsea!" Mirabelle cried. She ran over to where I was lying on the floor. "Oh my Goddess, are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" I said, getting up. Vaughn ran through the door and fell right into me. I fell back down with Vaughn on top of me.

His face turned a deep red and he hurriedly got up. Julia walked into the room, and saw us both standing there, panting.

"Mirabelle!" I gasped. "You'll NEVER believe what happened!"

"What?" Mirabelle asked. "Come on, spit it out!"

"Vaughn..." I sighed, and collapsed onto the couch.

Mirabelle looked at Vaughn, who was blushing.

"I remember..." he said softly.

A scream erupted from Mirabelle and Julia. Julia began jumping up and down.

"Wait," she froze. "Remember what?"

I groaned. "He remembers!" I screamed. "He lost his memory, remember? Wait... I'm using the word remember too much..."

"Oh..." Julia said, realization flooding her face. She then continued screaming madly and jumping up and down.

Vaughn and Mirabelle both looked at her like she was crazy. Julia saw their faces and stopped jumping, coughed slightly, and sat down on the couch.

"How much do you remember?" Mirabelle asked, turning away from Julia.

Vaughn shrugged. "I just remember when a picture was taken," he said. "That's it."

Mirabelle hugged her nephew. "It's still wonderful," she said.

This awkward look crossed Vaughn's face, kind of like Mirabelle was crushing him. I had to cover my mouth from laughing out loud. Julia actually DID laugh, causing Mirabelle to let go of Vaughn and glare at her. Vaughn slipped away from Mirabelle, making sure to stay out of her reach.

Mirabelle decided to cook a big meal and invited me to eat with them. She made cheese fondue, porridge, steamed egg custard, foiled mushroom, chocolate bananas, and pineapple pie. I said a big meal, remember? Goddess, it must have taken her an hour and a half to cook it all. She wouldn't let me help since I was a guest, and Julia... well Julia just can't cook.

Vaughn had gotten used to me eating dinner with them, so he wasn't uncomfortable at all. He seemed to actually enjoy it. Vaughn and I had grown closer since I first met him.

Julia chatted our ears off, as usual. Vaughn just rolled his eyes at his hyper-active cousin, and didn't say a word.

"So, do you remember anything else?" Julia asked her cousin, taking a big bite out of her foiled mushroom.

Vaughn shrugged. "I don't know," he said.

"Well, try!" Julia practically screamed at him.

"Try what?" Vaughn screamed back.

"To remember!" Julia said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Vaughn gave her this weird look, but closed his eyes like he was trying to remember anyway.

Julia stared intently at him, chewing on her mushroom.

Vaughn's eyes snapped open. "Could you PLEASE not chew like a cow?" he asked rudely.

Julia put on her pouty face, but chewed quieter.

A few minutes later, Vaughn opened his eyes again.

"Do you remember anything?" Julia asked, practically jumping across the table at him.

"No," Vaughn snapped coldly.

"It's ok," Mirabelle said. "You'll remember eventually."

"How do you know?" Vaughn said. "Maybe I'll never remember." He got up and almost threw his dishes into the sink, and stomped to his room like a little kid.

We all sat there in silence, finishing off our meal. A few seconds later, we could hear Vaughn's door slam shut.

"What's his problem?" Julia scoffed.

"I guess he's just upset," Mirabelle told her daughter.

Weird... Vaughn had seemed happy... Well, as happy Vaughn could get. Then, he suddenly just snapped.

"About what?" Julia asked.

"Julia, dear, you know how hard his life is," Mirabelle said, getting up and putting her dishes in the sink. Julia did the same, and I decided to to. Mirabelle began filling the sink with water, getting ready to wash the dishes.

We all crowded around the soapy sink, not saying a word.

"What was Aunt Bella like?" Julia asked suddenly.

Mirabelle looked up from the overwhelming soap bubbles at her daughter. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"What was she like?" Julia repeated. "Was she nice or what?"

Mirabelle sighed. "She was very nice," she said. "And funny. But she could be bossy. Really bossy. That's actually what ended our friendship..."

Mirabelle looked sadly at her feet. It must really hurt her to think about her sister... they used to be so close, and they stopped speaking. Now, Bella's dead and Mirabelle probably feels horribly guilty, especially since she has to look after her sister's child.

"Vaughn looks so much like her..." her voice wavered a little. "She had the same beautiful silver hair... not to mention attitude."

Julia smiled a little. "I would have liked to meet her..." she said dreamily.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. Just slightly.

"Uh..." I said quietly. "I should be getting home. I have to get up early tomorrow. Um... Bye!"

I slipped out of the kitchen and into the shop area. I nearly ran smack into Vaughn. He was standing right in the middle of the room, staring at the kitchen.

We both just kind of stood there, staring at each other. Vaughn, who was at least a foot taller than me, looked down at me with those purple eyes... I stared back up at him, my mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"W-What are you doing down here?" I stuttered nervously.

"Am I not allowed?" Vaughn said, raising an eyebrow.

"N-No..." I murmured, blushing. "O-Of course y-you're allowed... I-It's just that w-we thought you were u-upstairs..."

"Oh," Vaughn said, looking back at the kitchen. "What are you doing?" he looked back down at me.

"I-I was just leaving," I told him, and glanced at the door.

"Why do you sound so nervous?" Vaughn asked.

Ok, so NOW he's chatty! Geez... that man needs to make up his mind! You're either talkative or quiet! But you can't just switch! It confuses people... especially me!

I shrugged. "I-I don't know..." I muttered.

Vaughn looked at me sceptically. "There's no reason to be nervous," he said. "I don't bite,"

"I don't know that," I said, looking him the eye. Well that was weird... I suddenly felt brave.

"Oh yeah?" Vaughn said, and leaned down and kissed me.

**Me: :O OHMIGOD! The finally kissed! It's only tooken like 13 chapters or something! :D *clears throat* Uh... Welcome to Ruins Talk Show! Our guest today is... uh... someone.**

**Random Person: Helloooo!**

**Me: Uh... who are you?**

**Random Person: I'm someone, aren't I?**

**Me: Well, this is, uh, awkward O_O WHY WON'T VAUGHN OR CHELSEA COME?**

**Taro: *walks in, shoves Random Person off chair* Hello!**

**Me: Um... Hi, Taro?**

**Taro: How are you?**

**Me: Uh... good?**

**Taro: AHHHHHH!**

**Me: *jumps up* What? What is it?**

**Taro: There's gonna be a blizzard tomorrow... I can feel it in ma big toe... *raises eyebrow in creepy way***

**Me: Um... Uh... Ok then... Um... That's all the time we have now! Um... Good-bye!**

**Taro: *walks up to reader and wriggles eyebrow* Yes... good-bye!**

**Me: And don't forget to review!**

**Taro: *still wriggling eyebrow* Yes... remember.**


	18. Meet Me In the Pouring Rain, or Snow

**Long title! O_O I just thought it was creative :P WEEKEND WOOT! And... ma birthday's on Sunday *does happy dance* **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. **

Meet Me In the Pouring Rain... or Snow

It was a quick kiss, and ended much sooner than I wanted it to. I stood there, breathing heavily, staring up at Vaughn. He, being at least a foot taller than me, looked down at me with his beautiful violet eyes. They were usually so cloudy and sad, but at that moment they looked so bright and cheery.

"Told you I don't bite," Vaughn said, and walked away to his room. I spun around and watching him go, and stared at the place where he had walked to.

My breathing lightened, and I realized I was still standing in the middle of Mirabelle's shop. I heard the water emptying into the drain, and bolted out of the Animal Shop before Julia or Mirabelle saw me.

As I walked through the door, I shoved my hands into my pockets as a cold blast of air hit me. What day was it... was it Winter already? No, it couldn't be. My crops were still alive.

The dark sky above me was littered with shining bright stars. The moon was nowhere in sight; probably a new moon. The island was deserted, and the windows in all the houses shone bright and yellow.

I walked past Taro's house, and up onto my farm. The little house looked so black and lonely. My crops stood at the corner of my field, blowing softly in the wind. I could faintly hear Valerie chirping in the coop. I decided to go check on her.

I walked across the stone and stick filled field to where the coop stood. I gently pushed open the door and flicked on the light. It flickered slightly, but still stayed on. Valerie began chirping like a madwoman... or madchick. I walked over to where she was squawking and trying to fly into the air, and slowly began petting her soft fluffy fur.

She calmed down and jumped into my hands, and nuzzled against my chest. She was so warm and soft... I held her against my face, and kissed her head gently. Soon after she was sleeping peacefully, and I carefully put her back on the ground.

I turned off the light and made my way slowly back to my own home. I unlocked the door and turned on all the lights, illuminating my small, one-room house. There was the small kitchen, bathroom, bed, dining table, two rickety old chairs, a bookshelf, and a rug full of moth-holes. Even though it's almost been a year since I got trapped on this island by that storm, I still haven't made very much progress with my house.

"Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain..." I began singing absentmindedly to myself. "Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain..."

I began rummaging through my puny fridge for something to eat. I grabbed a tomato and some lettuce and began making a salad.

"Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down..." I pulled apart the lettuce and stuck it in a bowl. "Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around..." I chopped the tomatoes into tiny pieces and threw them in with the lettuce. "'Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile..."

Tossing the lettuce and tomatoes back into the fridge, I grabbed a bottle of ranch and sprinkled some over my salad.

I began humming as I sat down at my small dining table and began eating my salad.

"And I was enchanted to meet you..." I started on a new song while finishing off my salad. Ok, I listened to WAY too much music. "All I can say is I was enchanted to meet you..."

I dumped my bowl in the sink and began scrubbing at it with a sponge. After putting the bowl away, I changed into my PJs and got ready for bed.

It was only 8:30 pm, but I was hopelessly tired. Plus, I had to get up at like 6 am tomorrow. As I closed my eyes, images of Vaughn flashed before my eyes.

He had kissed me... He had actually kissed ME. That crazy girl who had fallen into a river... who had fallen off a cliff for him... who had thought he was a freaky, cranky, anti-social cowboy. But I was also that crazy girl who he trusted enough to tell about his family... who had saved his life, and his cousin's.

I REALLY need to be more careful. I mean, I haven't even been here for a year and I've already come close to death like four times.

My eyes snapped open and I was flooded by light. It was morning already? Ok, that was the crappiest sleep of my life. I rubbed my eyes tiredly and crawled out of bed. I made myself a breakfast consisting of an aging bagel with almost-expired cream cheese, and got dressed.

I watered my crops, which surprisingly had yet to die of cold, and went to take care of Valerie. She was wide awake and pecking happily at the ground, looking for food. I emptied some bird feed into her food box, and petted her like I did last night as she ate.

"You're actually really good with animals," I jumped at the sudden voice behind me.

I spun around to see Vaughn standing in the doorway of my chicken coop, his arms crossed across his chest.

"Oh my God," I breathed. "You nearly scared me to death!"

Vaughn smirked slightly and walked over to where I was standing.

"Nice hair," he said, and held a strand of my obviously uncombed hair in his hand.

"Excuse me for not getting all dolled up to be scared by a cowboy in my chicken coop," I said, staring at him.

Vaughn smirked again, and let go of my hair. It dropped almost lifelessly to my shoulder, and I began self-conciously running my fingers through my hair.

Vaughn shook his head, and laughed a little. What was up with his happiness?

"You seem happy," I remarked, still running my fingers through my hair.

Vaughn shrugged. "I don't know why," he smirked.

I dropped my hand to my side, and looked at him. His eyes were bright, just like last night. Last night... the whole thing replayed again in my head.

The next thing I knew, my lips were pressed against Vaughn's. He had his arms wrapped around my waist, and my arms were around his neck.

Valeria sat there, watching us. Seriously, she was watching us. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her huge black eyes staring at us. She kept pecking at the ground like she was eating popcorn. It was kind of freaky.

A low rumble erupted from the sky, and Vaughn and I both jumped. Another rumpled sounded, and I practically ran into Vaughn's arm.

Wind began furiously hitting the walls of the chicken coop, and snow and hail fell from the sky. We watched the whole thing from my coop window. The light above us flickered and went off, leaving us in darkness. Even though it was nearly noon, the sun was gone.

A louder, bigger rumble growled from the sky, causing me to scream and bury my face in Vaughn's chest.

We were trapped. In my chicken coop. During a blizzard. With no food. No water. No warmth.

Great. Just great.

**Me: Hello people. Welcome to Ruins Talk Show blah, blah blah... -.-**

**Chelsea: Hellooooo-oh? Anyone here?**

**Me: *jumps up* Ohmigod it's Chelsea! **

**Chelsea: Uh... hi?**

**Me: Who told you to come here?**

**Chelsea: Julia... she's been trying for like a month but I just ignored her. I finally came to get her off my back. *glances evilly at Julia clinging to back***

**Julia: *smiles, hops off Chelsea's back, and runs away***

**Me: O_O Awkward... Soooo... do you like the story?**

**Chelsea: *nods* Except I think I'm in it too much.**

**Me: T_T Uh... Chelsea?**

**Chelsea: Yiesss?**

**Me: You're the narrator! As in, YOU tell the story!**

**Chelsea: Are you sure?**

**Me: Ok, either you're WAYYYY more stupid then everyone thought, or having Julia on your back caused some serious brain damage!**

**Chelsea: *glares at* I am not stupid! *pouts***

**Me: *smacks face* -.- I honestly don't know where this is going, so I'm just gonna leave and talk to Chelsea about seeing someone about her "issues"... Oh! Don't forget to review! *runs off to find phyciatrist that'll accept fake anime character***


	19. Frostbite

**I don't feel like writing a super long A/N, sooo... I'm sure lots of people don't even read these.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

Frostbite

The rumbles got more frequent and I stayed in Vaughn's arms. Valerie began having this freakish panic attack, running around like her head was cut off and squawking her little beak off.

I eventually crawled out of Vaughn's arms, and began trying to catch Valerie to calm her down. She ran around the coop crazily, and it took me some time. The snow and hail continued to pound madly against the roof, scaring my little chicken even more.

After I had finally caught her, I hugged her close to my chest and stroked her fluffy feathers, calming her down. I sat down against the ground, and Vaughn sat beside me. I had almost forgotten about him until he sat beside me. Then again, it was pretty hard to forget a silver-haired cowboy with purple eyes.

Valerie had calmed down, and had dozed off in my lap. Vaughn and I sat in silence, listening to Valerie's soft, silent breathing.

"Should we try to get to your house?" Vaughn asked, looking at me.

"I don't think so," I said, glancing at the window above him. All I could see was white, and it sounded like someone was pelting the window with rocks.

Vaughn nodded, and rested his head against the wall.  
"What are we going to do?" he asked. "We have no food, no water, no warmth..."

I looked around the small coop. There weren't any blankets in sight, the only food was bird feed, and there WAS water, but it was filthy and full of chicken feces.

"I don't know..." I muttered, and rested my head on Vaughn's shoulder. Valerie moved a bit, disturbed in her sleep, but nuzzled deeper into my lap. At least she was warm...

The wind blew harder against the walls of the coop, shaking it violently. I was terrified it might collapse above us, just like Bella's old house... I shuddered, either from the cold or from the horrible memory.

Vaughn wrapped his arm around me, and I closed my eyes. It was getting cold, fast. I shivered again, and moved closer to Vaughn.

Another rumble escaped the sky, and Valerie woke up and began screaming again. I held her tighter until she fell asleep again. We did NOT need a whining chick on our hands.

I gently placed her in her feed box, surrounded by hay and bird feed hoping it would keep her warm. I ran back to Vaughn and snuggled close to him.

After a few minutes, the rumbles got even more frequent, until there was barely a second when the sky was filled with their noise. The snowflakes got thicker and faster, and the hail got bigger and heavier. They flew against the coop like it was noting, trying to get it out of their way.

I closed my eyes and covered my ears, hoping this was just a dream, wanting it to end. But each time I opened my eyes, I was still trapped in my chicken coop in the middle of a terrible blizzard.

It got really cold, and soon I was shivering nonstop. Vaughn began collecting clean pieces of hay and covered us with them, hoping they would keep us warm. They did, but not much. I hid underneath my hay beside Vaughn, staying close to him.

The cold soon became unbearable. Vaughn jumped out of the hay for a second and snatched Valerie so she could hide with us. I was worried she might die of cold, and her extra body heat wouldn't hurt.

We lay there on the coop floor, huddling together with my chicken beneath some hay during a snowstorm. Yep, just your average Tuesday, or whatever day of the week it was.

Ok, it was REALLY stupid of me to go outside without a hat, scarf, or gloves. I had on my winter coat and some boots, but that was it. I had my hood up and my hands were shoved into my pockets.

It had been at least two hours since the blizzard started. It had gone from cold, to freezing, to unbearable.

If you think I'm taking this way too seriously, YOU try being trapped in a chicken coop during a blizzard!

Valerie barely seemed to notice the cold. She slept peacefully in a little nest she had made herself. Vaughn and I were both wide awake, shivering out butts off. The walls were beginning to creak madly, and it sounded like a huge crack had formed on the window and was getting bigger.

I was too scared and cold to crawl out of the hay to check on the coop, so I stayed buried. Vaughn was now busy collecting the dirty hay and putting it on top of the clean hay. Any warmth at this point was greatly appreciated.

When was this storm going to end? It had been going on for at least three hours. Of course the longest storm on the island HAD to happen while I was in a chicken coop!

Suddenly, a huge crash rang out through the coop, and Vaughn immediately began scrambling back under the hay.

"What happened?" I screamed over the storm, which had just gotten extremely louder.

"The window broke," Vaughn called back to me. The hay began to get weighed down and heavier. Oh, no. We were being buried by snow!

The snow began seep through the hay, making it much colder than it was before. This was turning out to be a magnificent day.

Wait... I can't feel my toes. Or my feet. Or my legs! I began panicking as I tried to move my legs.

"What's wrong?" Vaughn asked me, a worried tone in his voice.

"I can't feel my legs," I screamed. "I'm frozen from the waist down!"

I was covered in snow now, which melted on my skin. I was sopping wet, and the water seemed to be freezing again. Great. They're probably going to find my days from now encased in ice!

Another crack pierced the air. This one was louder and longer though. Suddenly, something heavy and big fell down on top of Vaughn and I.

Almost immediately, I blacked out.

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show! On my last A/N, Chelsea came as our guest and seemed... crazy. Well, she's all better. I honestly don't know what happened.**

**Chelsea: Hi.**

**Me: Now, what do you think of the story so far.**

**Chelsea: I like it a lot, but this chapter just seemed... unreal.**

**Me: *smiles evilly* It'll all make sense soon... **

**Chelsea: Uh... Ok... I'm a little freaked out now...**

**Me: *ahem* Sorry...**

**Chelsea: It's ok. **

**Me: Well... Bye! And please review!**


	20. Just Another Ordinary Day

**Hurray for updates! SHUT UP COMPUTER! Sorry, my laptop's making this annoying buzzzzzzzzz sound. :( SHUT UP!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. **

Just Another Ordinary Day

Black. That's all I could see. It didn't feel like I was asleep. It seemed like I was awake and standing up, just in a pitch dark room.

I heard a creaking noise and a door swung open. It was pure white, and let in a huge streak of light. The light passed by me, but I saw a huge black figure in the doorway. It was tall and loomed high above me. The figure was very menacing, and had ginormous claws.

It stepped into the dark room, its feet tapping along the hard ground. It seemed to be heading straight for me. I took off running down a long hallway. I couldn't see a thing, and I was worried I might run into something.

But I didn't. There was nothing in front of me. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever. I could hear the creature's footsteps quicken behind me, until they were in a full sprint.

It was after me. I ran faster and faster and faster. It was getting hard to breathe. I looked back, but couldn't see anything. I didn't know how far or how close the monster was.

Eventually I came to a set of stairs. After nearly falling face-first into them, I clambered up the stairs, trying to get away.

A light shone at the top of the stairs. I ran as fast as I could towards them. I could still hear the creature's feet tapping against the floor.

I began sprinting up the stairs. I just wanted to get to that light. But it seemed to just keep getting farther and farther away.

The monster was getting closer. Its footsteps were closer and louder. I ran as fast as I could, but it was as if I was running on a stair-stepper.

I eventually decided to just jump off. I closed my eyes, even though it didn't make much of a difference, and jumped right off the stairs. To my utter shock, I sank right through the floor.

Screaming, I fell farther down until I landed on something soft. It slowly began to get brighter until the whole room was illuminated.

I found myself sitting in the meadow back home. Except I was sitting on a giant flower. And I was puny, and the meadow was ginormous.

Ok, this was weird. It went from scary to just plain-out freaky.

All of a sudden, the ground began to shake violently. I thought it was an earthquake, until I saw a bunch of bugs running beneath me screaming, "Bunny! Run for lives!" and "Head for the hills!"

What the heck? Since when do bugs talk? And why are they afraid of a BUNNY? And why are they so BIG? Oh, right. I'm PUNY!

The shaking got louder and closer. Suddenly, a humongous white paw slapped down in front of my flower. When I looked up, I saw a gigantic white bunny leaning over the flower. My eyes widened as it opened its mouth and engulfed the flower, and me.

When I opened my eyes next, I was lying on a bed, in a bedroom. The bedroom seemed oddly familiar... Was I back home? How did I get here? I thought I was just eaten by a huge bunny?

No... I know where I am! I'm in my bedroom at me grandparent's cottage!

I was surrounded by pink. The walls were a light pink, and the bedspread was white with pink polka-dots. There was a fluffy pink rug covering the hardwood floor, and a jewelled pink canopy hung about me. The bed was painted white, and was covered in stuffed animals. They were all either pink or white. A dresser stood in one corner covered in little pink decorations and heart stickers. A small white table stood in the middle of the room with a pink tea set on it. Kitty posters covered the walls, along with stick-on hearts that matched the ones on the dresser. A tall lamp stood beside the dresser. It was, of course, pink and white.

I had seriously forgotten how much I liked pink when I was a kid. It was actually kind of scary...

"Chelsea..." a soft, high-pitched voice called out from somewhere. "Where are you, Chelsea?"

I jumped up off the bed and looked around. I suddenly realized I was wearing a white nightgown with a pink bow, and fluffy pink slippers. They were like my childhood pyjamas enlarged to adult size.

Talk about freaky.

"Chelsea..." a different voice called out. "Chelsea... We love you Chelsea..."

I spun around to see an army of stuffed toys standing at my feet. I screamed and jump up onto the white chair that had been sitting behind me.

"Don't be scared, Chelsea..." a pink unicorn said. "We're your friends!"

"Yeah..." a white dog with pink hearts all over it said. "We missed you, Chelsea..."

"FuFu?" I asked the dog. "FuFu! I thought I lost you in the ocean when we went swimming!"

"You did..." FuFu said calmly. "But I came home, only to find you gone. That didn't make FuFu happy."

"No... No..." the other toys echoed each other.

"You'll never leave us again..." FuFu said, his face darkening. "We love you, Chelsea. Don't leave us. And just to make sure you don't..."

FuFu grew about ten times his regular size. He grabbed me and placed me in one of the chairs at the tea table. He then grabbed a pink rope and tied me to the chair.

"There..." FuFu said, his voice dark and scary. "Now You'll never leave us again!"

This was extremely freaky. I closed my eyes tightly, hoping that when I opened them this nightmare would be over.

When I reopened my eyes, FuFu and my old bedroom had disappeared. I was now standing on the beach back on Sunny Island, watching the sun set beneath the waves.

Vaughn was standing next to me, holding my hand. My head was resting on his shoulder peacefully. I quietly looked around. No freaky monsters... no giant bunnies... no vengeful stuffed dogs... Ok, maybe this place was safe.

I looked up at Vaughn, who looked down at me. He smiled happily, and leaned down and kissed me.

When he pulled away, we were no longer on the beach. We were on my farm, but it was on fire. Flames leaped greedily from my house and chicken coop. Vaughn and I were both covered in soot and ash.

Vaughn looked at me with sad eyes, and ran off back into my house. Except my house looked bigger. I could hear him screaming someone's name...

"Valerie! Valerie!"

My chicken? Why was he looking for my chicken, in my burning house?

I looked around frantically. The other residents were gathered around my house and coop, throwing buckets of water at them to try and douse the flames.

Julia ran up to me and hugged me tight. "Don't worry, Chels..." she whispered. "He'll find her..."

"Who's he looking for?" I asked, but before Julia could answer, everything around me turned to dust, and was blown away, leaving me all alone in nothing.

I closed my eyes, hoping that this nightmare would end. Everything was just too freaky...

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show! Our guest today is ~!**

**~: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~.**

**Me: Mhmmm, mhmmmm. And how does that make you feel?**

**~: ~~~ ~ ~~~~.**

**Me: Favolous. So, do you like the story?**

**~: ~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~!**

**Me: You feel there should be more ~s in the story?**

**~: ~~~~!**

**Me: I'll work on it.**

**~: ~~~~~ ~~~.**

**Me: Your welcome. That's all the time we have, folks! See you next time!**

**~: ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~!**

**Me: Yes, ~! Don't forget to review!****  
**


	21. Missing

**YESSSSSS! I'm updating awesomely! :P **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. **

Missing

When I opened my eyes, I was lying in a hospital bed. Was this another dream, or was it real life? A small heart-rate monitor was beside my bed, beeping at a regular pace. A whole bunch of medical equipment was surrounding me.

My eyes felt heavy and tired. My limbs felt like they hadn't been used in years, and my mouth was extremely dry. I looked around for some water, but found none.

I looked around some more and found a small button beside my pillow. The words NURSE were printed above it in big red letters. I pulled my arm out from under the blankets and pushed the button.

"Natalie? Is that you?" a voice sounded from the speaker above the button. "I told you to stop messing with the buttons! Why are you in Chelsea's room anyway? When you stopped by the front desk, you said you were going to visit Julia."

"What?" I asked, my voice extremely hoarse. "What are you talking about? Natalie's not in here. It's Chelsea."

"Oh my God..." the voice, who I assumed to be a nurse, whispered. "Oh my God! Chelsea, you're awake!"

"Yeah..." I said, confused. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm sending the doctor in there right away!" the nurse squealed.

Minutes later, the door swung open and a doctor and two nurses walked in.

"See? She is awake!" one said. I recognized her voice as being the one from the speaker.

"Oh my Lord..." the doctor whispered. He rushed over to my bedside and began showering me with questions. "How do you feel? Are you groggy, tired, sleepy? Does you head hurt? Do any of your limbs hurt?"

"I feel fine," I said, a little annoyed at him. "Yes, I'm sleepy. No, my head doesn't hurt. And my limbs feel like they're in braces and haven't been used in years!"

One nurse cleared her throat. "That's because they haven't..."

"What?" I gasped. Wait... is she saying I've been asleep for years?

"Chelsea," the doctor said. "You've been asleep for almost two years."

"What?" I repeated. "How? Nothing extremely serious happened! Except that I was trapped in a chicken, which fell down on top of me, during a blizzard! But it couldn't caused me to go in a coma for two years!"

The doctor looked warily at the nurses. "Nothing like that happened," he said. "You were found unconscious leaning over your friend, Julia, after a house collapsed on top of you. You haven't woken up since."

"What?" I said again. This was unbelievable. If I fell unconscious when I closed my eyes leaning over Julia, that means I never found Vaughn, never saved his life, never went to Julia's house for supper that one night, and was never kissed... It was all a dream. A stupid dream.

Tears sprung to my eyes. "J-Julia..." I whispered. "Where's Julia? I she ok?"

"She's fine," a nurse said. "She's in the room next door to you. She woke up from her coma two days ago."

"She's not dead?" I breathed. "What about Vaughn? Is he ok?"

"What?" the other nurse asked. "Who's Vaughn?"

"He was in the house when it collapsed," I said.

"There was no one else in that house," the nurse said.

"Yes there was!" I screamed. "He was in there! I know it!"

"You probably DREAMT he was there," he doctor said. "Because I assure you, someone named Vaughn was never found in that house."

"I need to talk to Julia," I said, and began to get out of bed.

"No, you can't!" the doctor screamed, trying to get me back in. "You just woke up from a coma! You're too weak!"

"I need to talk to Julia," I screamed through gritted teeth. I barged past the doctor and nurses and marched through the door to the room beside mine.

I had trouble walking since I hadn't used my legs in two years, but I still managed to make it to Julia's room. I barged through the door and saw Natalie chatting with Julia without a care in the world.

"Chelsea!" Julia screamed when she saw me.

Natalie turned and screamed as well. "What are you doing here!" she asked. "I thought you were in a coma!"

"Was," I said to Natalie, and marched to Julia. Mind you, I didn't march particularly well. "Julia, where's Vaughn?" I demanded.

Julia stared at me with sad eyes. "Julia, where's Vaughn?" I said again. "Tell me! I need to know!

"He... He's missing..." Julia whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

"He never came back to the island," Natalie said. "No one knows where he is."

"Oh my God..." I muttered, and stumbled to the ground. "He was in that house! He was in his mother's house when it collapsed!" I screamed. "He could be dead and nobody cares!" I broke down into hysterical tears, curled up on the floor of Julia's hospital room.

The doctor and nurses rushed into the room and grabbed me to take me back to my room.

I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes it was dark and the doctor and nurses were gone. All that was running through my mind was Vaughn... he was probably dead, blown away by the wind and erased from our minds.

I needed to get out of this hospital NOW. I looked around frantically and found the light switch. I flipped it on and found a suitcase full of my clothes. I threw them on and peeked out of the door into the hallway. Nobody was there, so I crept out and ran as fast as I could onto the elevator and out of the hospital.

I hailed a cab to take me to the docks where a ferry would be at 6am to take me to Sunny Island.

I paid the cab driver with the cash I found in my suitcase, and bought a ticket with the leftover money. It was 4am, so I had two hours left.

I played what I was going to say to the islanders when they saw me get off the boat. Maybe I should try to stay unseen... What if one of them calls the hospital?

I decided to try and stay unseen, and go to where Bella Wilkens's house was and see if it was still there.

When the boat got to the dock, I gave the guy at the gate my ticket and sat down on a chair. I fell asleep quickly, and didn't wake up until the captain announced we were docking at Sunny Island.

The beach was empty, so I scrambled off the beach and into town. It was still early in the morning, so I somehow managed to go unseen by any villagers. I made it into East Town, but instead of seeing a pile of rubble where Bella's house was, a saw a purple-roofed building with a fork and a knife in the form of an X across the door.

I ran quietly to the house and peeked through the rounded windows. There was a little kid in the house, cooking. He had curly blonde hair and was wearing a purple suit and top hat.

So, if Bella's house was gone, what happened to Vaughn? I ran across the bridge into the meadow and sat down on the dewy grass to think.

What if he really disappeared? But what if he really was in Bella's house and got burned to ashes and no one even knew?

Ok, Chelsea. Stop thinking negatively.

I sat thinking for a while. I eventually got up and wandered around the meadow. When I glanced across the river, I noticed the other bridge was fixed. I ran through East Town to the bridge, and raced across it.

I found myself surrounded by palm trees and exotic plants. It WAS a jungle!

I only took a few steps when a huge net fell down and engulfed me.

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show! Our guest today is Pierre!**

**Pierre: Do I really look like a kid?**

**Me: Yes. As some of you might have guessed, Pierre was that "kid" cooking in the purple house where Bella's used to be!**

**Pierre: I am not a kid!**

**Me: But you look like one! XD**

**Pierre: I do not! So what if I'm short?**

**Me: Yeah, you do! Now, what do you think is happening to Chelsea?**

**Pierre: *shrugs* She's still asleep?**

**Me: Maybe, maybe not... *does evil look* Well, I'm gonna end the show early 'cause Pierre's boring... BLAH!**

**Pierre: I am not boring!**

**Me: Yeah, you are. Don't forget to review!**


	22. Find Me in the Fading Light

**I'm like Super Writer! :P I REALLLYYY like this title 'cause it sounds pretty and romantic. This chapter is romantic, but not much. I've been writing like all day. I took a break to buy some songs off iTunes but that's it. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. **

Find Me in the Fading Light

I saw two figures approaching me carefully, like I was a foreign specimen or something. The shade from the trees made them look dark and mysterious. I began to think I was having another nightmare.

But as they walked closer to me, I realized they were living beings.

And Vaughn was one of them.

My eyes grew super huge as I saw Vaughn. He was wearing his same old clothes, but they were tattered and he didn't have a shirt on... or his hat. I have to admit, seeing his shirtless made my face go really red.

"Vaughn?" I whispered through the net.

Vaughn raised an eyebrow and moved closer to me. "Chelsea?" he whispered back. He remembered me!

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

He didn't answer me. Instead, he turned to the other man standing beside him. He began talking in some native language, and the man nodded.

Vaughn pulled out a knife and cut me free of the net. Well this was awkward. You try being cut free from a net by the guy you have a crush on.

Wait... crush? Noooooo... Since when do I have a crush on Vaughn?

Oh, right. When I dreamed of him kissing me.

I climbed out of the net and stood up. "Vaughn, everyone thinks you're either dead or missing," I hissed. "Natalie said you went to the city and never came back."

Vaughn sighed. "I actually got─"

"Fired," I cut him off.

He looked at me. "How did you know?"

"Being in a coma does strange things to you," I muttered.

"You were in a coma?" Vaughn gasped.

"Yes," I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Julia dragged me into that death-trap of a house your mother used to live in and it collapsed on us. I was in a coma for TWO years, Vaughn."

Vaughn looked at the ground.

"I shouldn't be out of the hospital," I told him. "I woke up not even 24 hours ago."

He looked up at me. I stared at those all-too familiar purple eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, motioning to the jungle around us.

"I live here now," Vaughn said simply. "When the house collapsed, I was buried beneath the rubble. Shea," he pointed to the native beside him. "Found me and brought me here. He saved my life."

"I knew you were in that house!" I cried. "I had a dream where I found you beneath the rubble, and then I passed out. I woke up in the hospital and you were there. I had been asleep for a week, and everyone thought Julia had died but she hadn't. Then you told Mirabelle you got fired and she got really mad at you, but she eventually forgave you. Then, you remembered something from your childhood and we ran off to tell Mirabelle. We had supper at her house to celebrate."

I took a deep breath. I had decided not to tell Vaughn about the kissing. Not yet, at least.

"Then, while I was in my chicken coop looking after my chicken, Valerie─"

"You have a chicken?" Vaughn interrupted.

"I did in my dream." I said. "Anyway, while I was in my chicken coop looking after Valerie, you came in and we started talking. Suddenly, a huge blizzard broke out and we were trapped in my coop with my chicken. We hid beneath some hay while the storm raged on outside. It got deathly cold, and eventually some hail broke the glass window. We got covered in snow that seeped through the hay, and then the whole coop collapsed!"

I took another deep breath then continued my story.

"I blacked out, and found myself in a dark room. I was soon being chased by some huge creature, and somehow fell through the floor. I was then in the meadow on a huge flower, and got eaten by a GINORMOUS bunny. Then, I was in my childhood room and got attacked my old stuffed dog, FuFu."

I paused for a minute, debating whether to tell him about the beach and the fire. I finally decided to.

"After, I was on a beach at sunset," I said. "With you." I looked up at Vaughn, who was looking down at me. "We... we... kissed and when I opened my eyes we were at my farm, but it was on fire. You rushed into my house screaming 'Valerie! Valerie!', and Julia hugged me and told me you'd find her. Then, I woke up in the hospital."

I looked back up at Vaughn. He was staring at me with his mysterious purple eyes. Ok, he must have gotten taller because he seemed higher away from me then the last time I saw him in real life.

"Vaughn, you need to go back," I told him. "Everyone's worried sick about you."

"I can't just leave, Chelsea," Vaughn said, looking far away. "I have a new life here."

"But you have an old back there!" I pointed to East Town. "No one knows where you are! They all think you're DEAD!"

Tears began welling in my eyes. Vaughn looked down at me again, his face empty.

"What happened to you?" I whispered.

"I almost died," Vaughn snapped. "That's what happened. And no one even cared."

He began walking away from me. "It's because they thought you were in the city because YOU lied and told them you were! It's your own fault this is happening!" I screamed after him.

He didn't even stop or look back. I watched him go, standing with the net entangled at my feet. The native, Shea, looked at me then at Vaughn, and ran off after him.

I sat down on the torn net, and watched as Vaughn and Shea walked into a small hut and slammed the door.

I sat there, not moving or saying a thing.

After a few minutes past, I screamed at the hut where Vaughn had disappeared to.

"I love you, Vaughn Anderson!" I screamed. "No matter what, I'll always love you!"

**Me: AWESOMEEEEE! XD Oh, uh... *ahem* Welcome to Ruins Talk Show! Today, our guest is Shea! **

**Shea: ... Hello ...**

**Me: So do you like the story?**

**Shea: *shrugs* Can't read.**

**Me: -.- Of course you can't... Well, um... Do you like hunting?**

**Shea: *nods* Yes, Shea love hunting very much.**

**Me: Cool. My grandpa likes hunting. What do you use to hunt?**

**Shea: Spear and knife and arrow.**

**Me: Interesting... what's the biggest thing you've ever caught?**

**Shea: Cow. Was sitting there in big field and Shea shoot with arrow. :D Person got mad at me though and hit me with rock... :(**

**Me: O_O Well, that's... nice. Uh, that's all the time we have now folks! Please review and... don't shoot cows with arrows. **


	23. Floor Skating

**Just to let you know, I still have A LOT planned for this story. I'm not close to being finished. I might have to make a seqeaul though. I'll just have to wait and see.**

**I didn't have school today since it was a snow day :) I went outside and when I came back in, my hair was literally frozen :O**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

Floor Skating

I sat there in the jungle amongst the ruined net, watching the hut. No one ever came out. The sun began to sink beneath the trees, but I didn't care. I stared fiercely at the small house which Vaughn had walked into.

Stupid... my whole life was stupid. I'm in love with a cowboy who turned into a crazy native. My life is NOT normal.

I groaned and fell back onto the hard ground. It would just be easier to fall asleep and never wake up... That would get rid of all my troubles, and I'd stop causing people close to me pain.

This is all because of that stupid sign. If I hadn't been so curious, I never would have gone into Bella's house and fallen into a coma for two stinking years.

I screamed angrily into the trees. I waved my arms in the air like I was possessed. It probably looked like I was having a seizure, so I wasn't exactly surprised when Vaughn, Shea, and some old guy came rushing out of the hut.

"Chelsea?" Vaughn said, raising an eyebrow. He was leaning over me, along with the two other natives.

"What?" I scoffed, as if what I was doing was normal.

"WHAT are you doing?" he demanded.

I sat up and slapped him hard across the face.

"Ow!" he screamed, clasping his hands to his cheek. I stuck my tongue out at him like a child and got up. As I was dusting myself off, Vaughn lunged at me angrily.

He brought me to the ground and pinned my arms to the dirt.

"What was that about?" he screamed.

I just squinted my eyes and stared at him.

We both glared at each other for a few minutes, while Shea and that old guy watched us like we were crazy.

"Please come back..." I eventually whispered.

Vaughn rolled away from me and lay on the ground, staring up at the tree tops.

"Why should I?" he asked me.

I looked at him. "I already told you," I said. "Everyone thinks you're dead. You've been gone for two years; disappeared without a trace. It's time to go back. This isn't you... You're not a native who lives in the jungle; you're a cranky, anti-social cowboy... who I love."

Vaughn looked at me. "Last time I checked, you hated me." He said.

"I never hated you," I said. "Sure, I disliked you, but never hated you. Would I think about hurling myself off a cliff for someone who I hated?"

Vaughn continued staring at me. "That's why you were at the bottom if that cliff?" he whispered. "Because you thought I was dead?"

I nodded softly, hugging my knees to my chest. "It just didn't seem fair..." I told him. "I didn't realize how much I cared about you until I thought you were gone."

Vaughn still looked at me, blinking those gorgeous purple eyes of his. I couldn't help but stare back at him. Before both of us knew what we were doing, Vaughn was leaning in closer and closer to me, until our lips met.

This kiss was so much better than the one from my dream. For one, it was actually real. Or at least I hope it was...

We stayed in that same position, kissing, for at least a minute before Vaughn pulled away.

"You're right," he said. "I don't belong here... I belong in the real world, with you."

He smiled slightly, and I smiled back at him. We both got up off the dirty ground and cleaned ourselves off. Vaughn went over to Shea and the old man, and began speaking to them in their native tongue.

After a few minutes, both Shea and the old man nodded. Vaughn said a few more sentences to them, and then ran back to me. I couldn't believe he was giving up the life he had led for two years so willingly. He actually seemed a bit enthusiastic about the whole thing.

He cleaned the paint off his face and chest, and ran back into the hut. I stood, leaning against a banana tree, watching the hut. A few minutes later, he re-emerged wearing his shirt, vest, and hat. They were all tattered and moth-eaten, but what could you expect from having them lying around in the middle of a jungle?

Vaughn said good-bye to Shea and the man, and then we were on our way. We knew the villagers would be surprised to see us, since they all thought I was still in a coma and Vaughn was dead.

We both took deep breaths as we crossed the bridge into East Town.

The first person to see us was Lanna. She was wandering around in front of her house, as usual.

She just pointed at us, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"Y-You... You're supposed to be dead!" she stuttered, pointing at Vaughn. "A-And you're s-supposed to be in a coma!" she pointed at me. "Oh my God, are you ghosts? Oh, my God, oh my God, OH MY GOD!"

"Lanna, calm down!" I said, resting my hands on her shoulders. "We're not ghosts. We're both very much alive and well."

Lanna stared at us both for a few minutes. Vaughn and I both stood there, watching her watch us. Suddenly, she let out a blood curdling scream and ran off screaming, "Mirabelle! Mirabelle! Oh my God! MIRA-BELLE!"

Vaughn and I looked at each other, and then ran off after Lanna. People began crowded out of their houses to see what Lanna was screaming about. Their eyes grew huge when they saw Vaughn and me running after her.

We reached the Animal Shop out of breath and tired. Lanna burst through the door, still screaming.

Vaughn and I ran in after her, and crashed into the couch. Again. Except last time, it was a dream.

Mirabelle screamed and ran out from behind the counter.

"Vaughn..." Lanna gasped. "Chelsea... Here... NOW!"

"What?" Mirabelle asked. She, somehow, hadn't noticed Vaughn and I come skating in on our feet and crashing into her couch.

Lanna, breathing heavily, pointed to the couch where Vaughn and I were trying, unsuccessfully, to get up. Mirabelle's eyes grew wide and her face went white. She screamed, and ran over to us.

"Vaughn...?" she whispered, and held her nephew's face in her hands. Tears were now streaming down her face. "You're alive? Oh my Goddess, I thought you were dead!" she hugged him tight, and he started coughing and choking.

Ok, this was turning out very much like my dream. Vaughn and I crashing into the couch, Mirabelle suffocating Vaughn...

Mirabelle let go of her nephew and looked at me. "You woke up from your coma?" she asked me.

I nodded.

"When?" Mirabelle asked. "They never called us."

"Yesterday," I told her, looking at the floor.

"Yesterday?" Mirabelle screamed. "And you're already out of the hospital?"

Yeah, bad idea... The world around me was starting to blur and spin around. I blinked my eyes trying to clear it and said, "Uh... I kind of left on my own..." I mutter. I could feel my body swaying from side to side.

"Chelsea?" Mirabelle asked. She dropped Vaughn back onto the couch and ran over to me. "Are you ok? You look dizzy. Chelsea?"

I started blinking again. My head was pounding madly and I felt sick to my stomach. Now I know why they didn't want me to go to Julia's room... My legs started feeling weak and it felt like my head was spinning around.

"Chelsea?" Mirabelle grabbed my head in her hands like she had with Vaughn. Vaughn was leaning over his aunt's shoulders looking at me.

I couldn't see them anymore. The whole world was spinning and blurry. I think Lanna was looking at me too, because I could faintly see long blonde hair and brown eyes.

The world started darkening slowly. Oh, no... Was I blacking out again? Ok, I REALLY need to stop doing that.

The last thing I heard was Vaughn saying my name. But his voice sounded really deep and dragged out. I fell hard against the floor. I could feel a sting on pain run through my skull, and then nothing.

Again.

**Me: *shakes head* Oh, Chelsea... You're so accident prone... Hello and welcome to Ruins Talk Show! Our guest today is Lanna! Sorry if she's already been here; I lost track of everyone.**

**Lanna: Hello!**

**Me: So, do you like the role you played in this chapter?**

**Lanna: Yeah, except I seemed a little hyperactive.**

**Me: Well, you do like sugar, right?**

**Lanna: *nods***

**Me: Maybe you had sugar before you saw Chelsea and Vaughn!**

**Lanna: Ok. **

**Me: Do you like the story?**

**Lanna: Yep. **

**Me: Ok. Well... that's all for today, people! Don't forget to review!**

**Lanna: Bye!**


	24. Telling the Truth

**I deleted Skipping Across the Stones because I couldn't think of anything for it, but I'll repost it when I think of something :) I have a new story idea and the first chapter written, but I'm waiting to post it until Ruins is finished. As usual, it's VaughnXChelsea. It's called "Today Was a Fairytale". If you want more detail, go to my profile and look under the section marked "Upcoming Stories".**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. **

Telling the Truth

I wasn't surprised to wake up and find myself in a hospital room. It seemed I was ending up here a lot lately... It must have been late in the day, because the sun was casting the room in a beautiful shade of gold.

There was no one else in the room. I was all alone. I wondered how I had gotten here... I was probably carried onto a boat or something that brought me to the city.

I looked around and found the nurse button again. I pressed it, and a voice started talking through the speaker again.

"Ah, so you're awake again." It said. It was the same nurse as last time. "I'll be right there with the doctor..." she hung up whatever she talked into.

I lay in bed waiting for her and the doctor. A few minutes later, they walked through the door again. They did NOT look happy.

"Chelsea, why did you leave the hospital?" the doctor asked.

I looked down at the blanket and began running my finger along the pattern.

"Chelsea, answer me."

I continued to trace the blanket pattern. "Um..." I muttered. "I went to find Vaughn..."

"So, you left after you JUST woke up from a COMA to go find someone who's DEAD?" the doctor asked through gritted teeth.

"He's not dead!" I said.

"How do you know?" the nurse asked.

"Because I found him," I said matter-of-factly. "He's alive and well, thank you very much."

The nurse glared at me angrily, and then turned to the doctor.

He sighed. "It was very dangerous for you to leave," he said. "You're not fit enough."

"I know," I murmured. "I won't do it again, I promise."

"Good," the doctor said. "But just to make sure, there will be someone outside your door at all times."

I was about to say something about the window, but decided not to.

"Ok," I muttered.

He gave me a check-up to make sure I was ok and then he and the nurse left. I was all alone.

It was getting late, and I was extremely tired. I rested my head against the soft pillow and fell asleep.

* * *

When I woke up, it was early morning. The sun was just rising above the horizon. It was still a little dark in the room, but I could see.

I looked around the room some more. The walls and ceiling were white, with a rough-looking blue carpet. Three chairs were lines against the wall for visitors, and there was another by the bed. A small table was beside the chair, and a vase of flowers was resting on it. A whole bunch of medical equipment filled the room, and a TV hung from the ceiling.

I reached up and pulled the TV down. Switching it on, I saw the News was on.

"Exactly two years ago today, a house collapsed on two young women who lived on Sunny Island, a small remote island in the middle of the ocean." The anchorwoman said to the camera. I sat up straighter. They were talking about the house collapse?

"Both women fell into a coma," she continued. "Local residents struggled to put out the fire that had started and save the women. One, Julia Wilkens, was left in critical state, having been buried beneath the rubble."

I stared in awe at the TV. We had been on the news? Cool! Maybe not the way I wanted to be on the news, but still, cool!

"Three days ago, Julia Wilkens woke up from her two-year coma." The woman said. "But the other, Chelsea Smith, remains unconscious."

Wait, what? I was awake! If I was in a coma, I wouldn't be watching the news!

Suddenly, someone rushed onscreen with a little piece of paper. The anchor woman nodded, and looked back at the screen.

"Ok," she said, reading the card. "It seems that just last night, Chelsea Smith woke up from her coma!" she continued reading the card. "It seems she began saying that a young man was also in the collapse, and then ran off to the island the next morning!"

Ok, freaky. How did they know I had left? Did the hospital call them? I did NOT appreciate them telling the whole city that I had run off in an attempt to find someone who was supposedly dead.

I think someone began talking to her through a small earpiece she was wearing because she pressed her hand to her ear.

"Ok," she said, and then hung up or something. "We're going to go live to the City Hospital, where both Ms. Wilkens and Ms. Smith are staying."

A small square appeared in the corner of the screen, and then enlarged. It showed an anchorman holding a microphone. He was standing in Julia's room. Well this was interesting. I was watching what was going on in the next room on the News.

"So, do you remember what exactly happened two years ago?" the man asked Julia, who was lying in bed.

"Sort of," Julia said into the microphone. "My friend, Chelsea Smith, came over to my house saying she had found my aunt's old house. I don't really remember what happened after that, but we ended up in the house and it just collapsed."

"Do you believe Ms. Smith's impression that a young man was also in the house when it collapsed?" he asked her.

"Well, the man is actually my cousin, Vaughn. It was his mother's house that collapsed," Julia said. "I don't believe he was in the collapse, because he works in the city for most of the week, so he would be at his job when it collapsed. But strange thing is, Vaughn never came back to the island. Most of us think he's... dead."

The man nodded. "Interesting. Now, what do you think caused the house to collapse?"

"Well," Julia started. "It was a very old house. It had been empty for years. She moved out after she met my uncle. I think it was just age that caused it to collapse."

"What did your aunt say about the house collapsing?" the man asked.

Julia got really quiet. "Um... you see, my aunt's dead," she said softly. "She died in a car crash along with my uncle and cousin, Jonathon, leaving Vaughn all alone. He came to live with us."

"Oh," the man said. "I'm terribly sorry. Thank you for your time, Ms. Wilkens."

"You're welcome," Julia said, and the man left.

Once he was out in the hallway, the man started speaking again. "Now we're going in to visit Ms. Smith,"

I jammed my finger against the power button on the TV and pushed it away.

The door opened, and in walked the man, a camera guy, a lighting guy, and a boom operator. The doctor and nurse were with them also. The doctor came over and began talking to me, saying that this nice young man was with the news channel and was here to interview me.

"Here we are in the room of the lovely Ms. Chelsea Smith," the anchor man said, and walked over to my bedside. He was followed by the team of men who accompanied him.

"Hello, Ms. Smith," he said, flashing me a huge smile.

"Hi," I said quietly.

"So, I hear you recently woke up from your coma," he said, still smiling.

"Yesterday," I told him.

He nodded. "And you also believe that a young man, Vaughn, was also involved in the collapse," he said. "Even though his cousin said he was in the city at the time and is now, most likely, dead."

"He's not dead," I said sternly. "I left the hospital on my two nights ago to find him. I just knew he had been in the house when it collapsed. But when I returned to the island, the house had been cleared away and a new one built. A few minutes later, I found myself in the jungle, trapped in a net."

The man looked at the camera and raised an eyebrow, as if saying I was crazy.

"It's true!" I said. "Then, I found out that Vaughn was living with the natives who live on the island. One of them, Shea, had found him buried beneath the rubble and tooken him home, where Vaughn started to live with them. He was there for two years before I found him. Everyone thought he was dead since he hadn't returned from the city. I'm surprised nobody found him before me."

The man stared at me. "So you're saying that his young man, Vaughn, had been trapped under the ruins of the collapsed house, and was found by NATIVES who took him in?"

I nodded. "I convinced him to leave the jungle and go back to his old life," I said. "A resident of the island, Lanna, saw us and went screaming to Vaughn's aunt and Julia's mother, Mirabelle. Vaughn and I followed her and ended up at Mirabelle's Animal Shop, where I eventually passed out. When I woke up, I was back here in the hospital."

The man continued to stare at me. "Where is this man, Vaughn, now?" he asked.

"He's most likely at home, where he belongs." I said.

"Well, no one can really believe he's alive until we actually see him," the man said.

"Fine," I said. "I'll get him to come, because he really truly is alive."

"Ok then," the man said. "I'll be back in a week, and I hope Vaughn will be there to join us."

"He will," I said, and the man and his crew left.

**Me: Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show! Apparently, ~ told his friend ^ about this show and ^ came over to be on it. **

**^: ^^^^^!**

**Me: So, ^, do you like the story?**

**^: ^^^, ^^^^ ^^^^.**

**Me: Cool. So ~ told you about this show?**

**^: ^^^!**

**Me: What exactly did ~ say?**

**^: ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^.**

**Me: Nice. Will you tell any of your friends about it?**

**^: ^^ ^^^^^^! ^'^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ % ^^^ #.**

**Me: Hear that, reader? You can expect % or # as quests in the future!**

**^: ^^^!**

**Me: That's all our time for now! Bye! And don't forget to review!**


	25. Tell Mommy I Love Her

**Ok, this chapter is REALLY sad. I had to stop writing two or three times because I was crying so bad. If you cry really easily, then you may want to grab a bucket or something. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.**

Tell Mommy I Love Her

Two days after we were interviewed, Julia was discharged from the hospital. I gave her a letter to give to Vaughn, who she still didn't believe to be alive.

They wouldn't let me out until the end of the week, after the man had come back and interviewed me, and hopefully Vaughn.

Whenever I tried to get up, I got dizzy quickly and had to lie down before I passed out. I also got raging headaches out of the blue, and was always tired.

The doctor gave me some medicine for the dizziness. I have to take a pill every two hours now or else I'll pass out when I get up. Wonderful!

He was still trying to look for something to help my headaches, and until he found something that would help, I'd have to settle for Advil.

I was sitting in a chair by the window, wrapped up in blankets, when it began snowing. Big, fluffy snowflakes fell from the sky. I stared in awe as they left the clouds and touched the ground stories below me.

I longed to be back on the island, dancing around in the snow smiling happily.

I began thinking about where I would be if I hadn't gotten on that boat. I wouldn't have met Natalie or Elliot, and it wouldn't have crashed. I wouldn't have almost died and I wouldn't have washed up on Sunny Island. I wouldn't have fallen in that stupid river, and Vaughn wouldn't have saved me. He wouldn't have been thought dead and I wouldn't have fallen off a cliff. I wouldn't have gone into Bella Wilkens old house and nearly died when it collapsed on me. I wouldn't have gone into a coma where I dreamed Vaughn and I kissed and we got trapped in my chicken coop during a storm. I wouldn't have woken up and run away to find him. I wouldn't have found him in the jungle living with natives, and we wouldn't have kissed for real. I wouldn't have been interviewed by some news guy and I wouldn't be here, staring out the window at the snowflakes.

My thoughts were interrupted by my door swinging open and hitting the wall. I turned around in my chair to see my little sister, Jill, standing in my doorway, covered in melting snow.

"Jill?" I got up quickly, which made me dizzy. I walked over to my bedside table and took my pill.

"Chels!" Jill ran over to me. Tears were running down her cheeks mixing with the snow.

"What's wrong, Jilly?" I asked my little sister.

"Chelsea..." Jill whispered softly. "Mom... she's..."

Oh, no. I knew where this was going. I had a very similar conversation with Julia over two years ago.

"Dead..." Jill said the last word as softly as possible.

The world around me began spinning again. Why was it spinning? I had taken my pill. It shouldn't be spinning! I could feel hot tears roll down my face, and my lip quivering.

I fell onto the bed, and the world began steadying a bit. "H-How?" I finally managed to say.

Jill sat down on the bed beside me. "She was in a car crash with daddy," she said.

"Is Dad ok?" I breathed.

Jill shook her head solemnly. "He's hooked up to a life support machine..."

"Is he in this hospital?" I asked. Jill nodded. I froze. "How'd you know this was my room?"

"We all came to visit you dozens of times when you were in a coma," Jill explained. "Do you want to see Daddy?"

I nodded. My throat was clogged up. Mom was gone... and Dad was going... I couldn't believe it. This was what it must have been like for Vaughn, plus add not remembering to it all. I don't know how he managed to keep living.

When I tried to walk, I stumbled back onto the floor. My legs felt weak and jello-oey. Jill helped me into the wheelchair that was in my room in case I needed it, and wheeled my out of the room.

Jill explained that she was taking me to see our dying father to the nurse, who still decided to come with us, just in case Jill was lying. I don't know who would lie about that, though.

Jill led us to the ICU, where the nurse explained to another nurse that we were Dad's daughters, and that I had had no idea he had almost been killed.

The nurse let us in, and I almost fainted when I saw Dad. He was covered in scrapes and bruises, and his breathing was raspy. He was hooked up to a huge machine, a life support.

Jill wheeled me to Dad's bedside. His eyes were shut and his face crinkled as if he were in pain, which I'm sure he was.

"Hi, Daddy," I whispered softly. His eyes opened just a crack, and he smiled.

"Hello, princess," he said quietly. His voice was hoarse and cracked. It made tears well in my eyes when I thought about how strong and full his voice used to be. He was always smiling and laughing and teasing me to death.

I just sat there on my wheelchair in silence. The tears that had been welling in my eyes were now streaming down my face. The room was never quiet with daddy around...

"Oh, daddy..." I whispered, and grabbed his hand. I squeezed it tightly, and he squeezed back, softer. He had always been so strong, and now he could barely hold my hand.

"I love you, Chelsea," he told me softly. "I always have and I always will, no matter what happens to me."

"Don't go daddy," I said, my voice wavering. "Please don't leave. I love you..."

"I love you too, Chelsea," Daddy said. "But I have to go. It's my time."

"Please don't leave me," I said. "Please. I love you. I don't want you to die."

"Oh, Chelsea," I could tell it was hurting daddy just to talk. "I can't. I just can't."

"How did the car crash?" I asked. Something just made me ask that; I needed to know.

"We were hit..." he said. "By another car. By a drunk driver."

My heart stopped. I knew how many lives were taken by drunk drivers each year, but I never thought it would happen to my parents.

Jill grabbed Daddy's other hand and we all cried.

"Will they pull the plug?" Jill asked, obviously talking about the life support machine.

Daddy nodded weakly. "Tomorrow..." he said. I looked at the nurse, tears still rolling down my cheeks, and she also nodded.

This was daddy's last day on earth... He was going to die, no matter what I do. There was no way he could get better, not in the state he was in.

"When you leave," Jill said, brining my attention back to her. "Will you tell Mom I love her?"

"Can you tell her that for me, too?" I asked. "And that I'll miss her smile and her laugh, and the sound of her voice wherever I go?"

Daddy nodded silently.

"I'll miss you so much," I said. "I'll miss your constant teasing and everything else about you. And I'll cry on my wedding day because you won't be there to walk me down the aisle."

"Of course I'll be there," Dad said, looking at me with his deep blue eyes. "I'll be with you wherever you go, even if I'm not alive."

I nodded, and lightly hugged him, so as not to hurt him. Jill did the same, and we left still in tears.

Life was never going to be the same for me.

**Me: :'''''''''''''( I'm still crying... D': I'm just going to talk your ear off because I don't feel like making someone talk to me! *cries madly into tissue* THAT'S SO SAD! I hate myself for writing this chapter... :( And if you didn't cry you have no heart... How could you NOT cry at someone telling thier dying father to tell their dead mother they love her? It took my like five minutes to write Chelsea telling her dad she'll cry on her wedding day. I could barely see the keyboard I was crying so hard... This also reminded me of the time my dad had a kidney failure and was in the ICU. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the Intensive Care Unit. I went to visit him and it was really freaky. He was hooked up to all these machines and the room was so BARE. It had like a glass door and the wall were like blue glass or something. But luckily he got better :) I'm going to stop now and go cry into my pillow! **


	26. Happy the Hard Way

**I decided this will be the last chapter for the story :'( It's getting really long and by the time I actually feel the whole plot is done, there'd be almost 50 chapters. So, I'm making a seqeaul called "Walking in the Devasted Area". It might not be up for a while though, as I decided to take a small break from writing and read. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters. **

**P.S. I got the idea for the title from a song by Every Avenue called "Happy the Hard Way".**

Happy the Hard Way

My dad died the next day. I was there, in my wheelchair, when they pulled the plug. He didn't even try to breath. He just let himself die. I wish I hadn't gone... No one should ever watch their father die.

It seemed that since I heard about Mom's death, it was impossible for me to walk. My legs turned to jell-o whenever I tried, and I fell to the floor.

A nurse pushed me back to my room, as Jill had decided to stay at grandma's cottage. She didn't want to see daddy die. I couldn't blame her. When I was wheeled into my room, I was surprised to see Vaughn sitting in a chair.

"Vaughn?" I asked when I saw him. The nurse left, closing the door behind her, so I wheeled myself over to where he was sitting.

"What happened?" Vaughn asked, noticing that I was in a wheelchair and that my eyes were red and puffy.

"I... just watch my dad die..." I muttered, looking at my hands.

Vaughn stared at me. "Oh, Chelsea," he said, and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I began bawling into Vaughn's shoulder, remembering the conversation I had had with my dad just yesterday.

"He was in a car crash..." I whispered. "My mother died too..."

"I'm so sorry..." Vaughn whispered, and pulled slowly away from me. He looked down at the wheelchair. "Why can't you walk?"

I shrugged. "Ever since I heard of my mom's death, I just couldn't walk..." I said.

Vaughn nodded. "I really am sorry about your parents." He said.

I slowly nodded my head. "I just can't believe they're gone..." I said, my voice wavering. I then burst into tears, and Vaughn grabbed me in a hug again. I was so glad he was there...

"I know how you feel," he said. I knew I could believe him, not like everyone else who had said they knew how I felt. How could they? Did they ask their dying father to tell their mother they loved them? Did they watch their father die right before their eyes? No, I don't think so.

I wrapped my arms around Vaughn and cried into his shoulder again. He stroked my hair and held me tight. It made me feel protected to know that Vaughn would be there for me...

Vaughn pulled away and looked at me with those purple eyes of his. I looked up at him, tears still streaming down my face. He lifted one of his hands and gently wiped a tear away.

I managed to get myself out of my wheelchair and onto the seat next to him. I rested my hand on his shoulder, and kept crying. I never even got to say good-bye to my mother. She died knowing that her daughter would never see her again...

* * *

I eventually fell asleep, because when I opened my eyes I was lying in the hospital bed. It was late at night as the room was dark. Vaughn was sound asleep in one of the chairs, and head propped against his arm. I had stopped crying, and told myself not to.

Crying wouldn't get me anywhere. There was no point in crying. Nothing gets done by mopping around, as Denny used to say.

I took a deep breath and snuggled closer to the pillow.

The reporter was coming back tomorrow. Those people are so nosy. They need to know EVERYTHING.

Groaning, I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

The reporter did come back the next day, and he was surprised to see Vaughn there. He thought I was lying!

"And this is Vaughn?" he asked, walking in with his whole crew.

"Yep," I nodded proudly.

"So, were you really in the house collapse, like Ms. Smith says?" the reporter asked Vaughn, who nodded. "How come nobody found you?"

"They all thought I was in the city, at my job," Vaughn said.

"Why weren't you?" the man asked.

Vaughn was looking a bit annoyed. He has such a short temper, and people who ask about his life just piss him off.

"I got fired," Vaughn said coolly, though I could tell he was trying hard not to snap.

"Why were you fired?" the man asked. Don't ask any more questions... Come talk to me! I won't murder you! Come over here! He's gonna kill you! Come. Over. HERE!

Vaughn shrugged. "I don't know," he said through gritted teeth.

"Interesting," the man said, and turned to me. Good. Don't go back to him. He has a very short temper and will literally kill you if you ask him any more questions.

"So, Ms. Smith, how did find this young man?" he asked.

"I went into the jungle, seeing how the bridge there had been fixed, and I got trapped in a net. It was set by the two natives that lived in that jungle. According to Vaughn, one of the natives, Shea, found him buried beneath the rubble and took him in," I said.

The reporter looked back at Vaughn. "Why didn't you return to civilization after you could?" he asked.

Again, Vaughn shrugged. "I had been living in the jungle for a year by the time the bridge was fixed, so I just decided to stay," he said.

The man looked back at me. "How did you convince him to come back?" he asked.

"I just told him how everyone missed him and thought he was dead, and how that wasn't his life; that he belonged outside the jungle." I said.

He nodded and began asking more questions, which Vaughn and I answered as un-detailed as possible. After about an hour and a half, he left.

"Those reporters need to get their own lives," Vaughn muttered after they had left.

I nodded in agreement.

We sat there in silence for a while, neither of us knowing what to say.

"I'm leaving the hospital soon," I said.

Vaughn looked at me. "Can you walk?" he asked.

"Sort of," I said.

"Try," he said. "I'll help you."

He helped me down from the bed, and onto the ground. My legs turned to Jell-O again, and I fell back onto the bed.

"Don't worry," Vaughn said. "I won't let you fall."

I nodded, and got off the bed again. Vaughn held onto me tightly, and I slowly took one step. Then another. And another. And another, until I had completely walked around the room.

We walked around, Vaughn supporting me the whole time, a bit more until I was ready to try it on my own. Vaughn stayed close by in case I did fall. After about an hour of taking small, baby steps, I could walk all around the room.

It was actually kind of funny. I was twenty-three years old, and learned how to walk again.

I didn't need the wheelchair anymore. Vaughn had help teach me how to walk again. Why had I forgotten? I don't know, and probably never will know.

I was so happy after I walked around by myself that I started jumping up and down and screaming for joy.

Without thinking, I jumped into Vaughn's arms and kissed him.

The collapse had definitely changed my life. I wasn't the same person I was before. Sure, the ruins still remained, and it would take a while to pick up the pieces, but right then I was happy.

**Me: *screams* OH MY GOD! VAUGHN IS HERE! *screams louder***

**Vaughn: *looks at with weird expression***

**Me: Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod... *takes deep breath* Hello, and welcome to Ruins Talk Show.**

**Vaughn: Uh... Hi?**

**Me: *giggles madly* As you can see, our guest today is VAUGHN! *calms down... clears throat* So, Vaughn, who told you to come here?**

**Vaughn: Julia's been nagging me for the past TWO MONTHS to come here, so I finally decided to.**

**Me: *takes deep breaths* Cool. So, did you like the story?**

**Vaughn: ... Yeah, I guess...**

**Me: *smiles super huge* Great! Will you read the seqeaul?**

**Vaugh: ...Ok...**

**Me: *smile gets wider* YAY! Who do you like better, Sabrina or Chelsea?**

**Vaughn: o_O I'm not gonna answer that because you freak me out... A LOT.**

**Me: Meh... People tell me that all the time! **

**Vaughn: Mhmmmm... *slowly inches away***

**Me: Bye Vaughn! *waves arm frantically as Vaughn runs away* He's so sweet, isn't he? Well, I'll see you in the seqeaul, "Walking in the Devasted Area"! Until then, remember to review!**


End file.
